The problem is, that empires have planned economy parts, and those destroy the market. Join the us-protective empire, you buy military hardware and other produc

The problem is, that empires have planned economy parts, and those destroy the market. Join the us-protective empire, you buy military hardware and other product-groups to pay for the protection against hostile neighbours. If these products are worth the money is near irrelevance. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/04/world/middleeast/saudi-missile-defense.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/04/world/middlee... They could make these planes from paper and they still would sell. The moment the systemic thread of the soviet union was considered no longer imminent (70s-80s) the slide into abysmal quality began. So to join the "I don't want to pay for my own military and still be relatively safe" club, you buy those planes.