The United States has been making the same mistake for decades - it was called "globalization". Globalization was necessary to finance the Imperial War Machine.

The United States has been making the same mistake for decades - it was called "globalization". Globalization was necessary to finance the Imperial War Machine. I think this was covered in Perkin's Confessions of an Economic Hitman [1][2] (my earlier comment on this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13442222 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13442222 ). [1] https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1576755126 https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1576755126 [2] https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1626566763 https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1626566763 (2016 edition, which I haven't yet read) This quote is on the right track: > In February, if you remember—and given the deluge of news, half news, rumor, and innuendo, who can remember anything these days?—Donald Trump memorably compared the United States to Russia. When Bill O’Reilly called Vladimir Putin “a killer” in an interview with the new president, he responded that there was little difference between us and them, for—as he put it—we had our killers, too, and weren’t exactly innocents abroad when it came to world affairs. “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?” he said. > > The president has said a lot of outlandish things in his first months in office, but here he was on to something. The rest of the article doesn't demonstrates that the author doesn't understand President Trump's modus operandi [3]... [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13538462 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13538462 (also see Scott Adams' blog for commentary on El Presidente Trump as a "persuader"). I think El Presidente wants to do a good job, but he's in charge of a briar patch. He can't do everything himself, and is at the mercy of his advisors... As long as El Presidente keeps his eye on the bigger picture, America still has a chance. P.S. Remember that the Briar Patch tricked President Obama into authorizing the Libyan regime-change operation [3]. President Obama has said that not adopting the "you break it you bought it" policy (thereby allowing chaos to replace the stability that the Libyans used to enjoy) was his biggest mistake. [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya#2011_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya#2011_Civil_War