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This is the key reason why the United States is the financial power of the world that it is. It isn't so much about our freedoms or our GDP, although they play
by ravenstine 8y ago
This is the key reason why the United States is the financial power of the world that it is.
It isn't so much about our freedoms or our GDP, although they play a role.
Unlike China and Russia, we have WAY more guns and we're WAY less corrupt. That's a pinnacle of financial security; you can be confident that the United States will honor its treasury securities. China and Russia? Probably, except who knows what internal or external conflicts shake their fragile economies, and maybe they just won't pay out on time or at all.
People hate the fact that we spend so much on our military, but the inconvenient truth is that we have the comfortable lives we have now in large part because we have so many god damned weapons, and very advanced ones at that. That goes for those who live in foreign ally nations; deep down, their leaders know we will intervene on their behalf if shit hits the fan. America has had its share of fuckups, but they're still not eclipsed by the fuckups of Russia or China.
- scarface74 8y agoDo we really know that we will intervene for our allies with the current “America First” rants and threatening to leave NATO?
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoTrump is just (somewhat justifiably) trying to get Europe to step up to the plate and not leave everything to the US. Remember that we fixed their Yugoslavia ethnic cleansing problem while they twiddled their thumbs waiting for diplomacy to work. When the shit hits the fan the US will participate, if only to keep the MIC chugging along.
- pnw_hazor 8y agoI think one of main things keeping Europe more or less stable, is that Russia's armed forces are probably more broke-dick than the EU's.
- remarkEon 8y agoHonest question: we are almost 30 years away from the fall of the Soviet Union, which NATO was founded to defend against. What specific things in terms of Defense is America responsible for on the European continent?
- gpm 8y agoMy basic understanding of NATO is that it says: - If any NATO country is invaded by anyone, all NATO countries will go to war to defend it. This doesn't apply if the NATO country is the aggressor. - It outlines some minimum funding commitments, but those are more aimed towards the non-US countries involved.
- emiliobumachar 8y agoI think the main thing is still to deter Russia from literally invading member countries. It's hard to call that far-fetched in light of Russia literally invading Ukraine and, before that, Georgia.
- remarkEon 8y agoThat doesn’t answer the question. Why should we draft a bunch of folks from South Dakota and Kansas (and let’s be honest here ... folks from New York or SF who write opinion pieces about this aren’t going to be the ones paying blood) to fight Russia? Why can’t these countries defend themselves?
- landryraccoon 8y agoWould your argument hold equally for US intervention in Europe in world war 2?
- remarkEon 8y agoNazi Germany declared war on the United States. That wasn't a US "intervention".
- 8y ago
- philliphaydon 8y ago“Way less corrupt” Just because an internet search puts America as less corrupt than the likes of China and Russia. Doesn’t mean it’s actually less corrupt. The perseption of America is that it’s less corrupt but in reality we have absolute no idea what’s going on behind closed doors and what deals are being done.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- umvi 8y agoWell, for starters, try bribing a police officer in USA vs. Russia over a speeding ticket and see how far it gets you. My money is on you going to jail in USA and getting off scot free in Russia.
- _emacsomancer_ 8y agoWell, there's certainly less low-level corruption.
- crazy5sheep 8y agohow can one imagine at a higher level, it will just magically get better then?
- rat9988 8y agoThis is not the discussed point.
- pnw_hazor 8y agoAKA pervasive corruption. See, also, Vietnam.
- chongli 8y agoLess high level corruption, too. Jeff Bezos probably worries about a lot of things but I highly doubt that he worries Trump will throw him in jail and seize all his assets. Now if Bezos were in Russia? Putin would do it in a heartbeat [1]. There's no way you would get away with criticizing Putin the way WaPo does with Trump. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Khodorkovsky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Khodorkovsky
- antpls 8y ago> we have the comfortable lives we have now "We" = the 1% which reads Hacker News? Speak only for yourself You uses fallacies to spread misinformation about war. No source, no number, no reference. Convenient.
- ravenstine 8y ago> "We" = the 1% which reads Hacker News? Speak only for yourself No, actually "we" as in most Americans and many other countries in multiple senses of "comfortable". Yes, there is poverty and many social problems present in America. At the same time, many aspects of the average American life, as well as life in Europe and other parts of the world, have consistently improved, and millions of people still choose to live in America instead of even other places of comparable rights and opportunities. Contrasted with many parts of the world, we're pretty damned comfortable. But you know what? That doesn't even matter. If I were to alter my premise to only encompass the "1% which reads Hacker News", it wouldn't affect my comment at all. Why do you think Silicon Valley continues to exist in America and not the UK? Fallacies are specific, and you haven't mentioned what "fallacies" I've made. What I wrote was a comment on an industry forum, not an academic paper. You want citations? Work it out yourself. You're on the internet. Nothing that I wrote hasn't been said before by others with greater authority than mine. You haven't made a single argument, yet you accuse me of using fallacies and misinformation. By not justifying your claims, you're being very unfair.