Pickledlemons
Bluelighter
Ukraine is not just about war. It is the hub of a major transfer of wealth in the western world. There is an entirely different agenda at work there that we are scarcely aware of.
The US has ignored infrastructure for decades while massive amounts of public money are transferred to private hands. You only have to look at the tax code to understand this.
Middle class people can no longer afford homes in the United States. The cost of an education is obscene. And even if you do have an education, the race to the bottom means that you won't get paid what you should be paid. People with middle-class jobs can't afford a home. Without the foundational resources of a normal life, the economy starts collapsing. This is neoliberalism and a free market at work. Private interests are concentrating wealth on a global level now, superseding that of entire nations. The US wanted a free market and now they have it. A whole generation of people are about to become economic slaves, paying all of their income to landlords. Hell, let's just call them Lords and not landlords.
And when you become homeless, you are basically not a person anymore in society. So of course you'll turn to drugs. What is there that's left to enjoy anymore? The police can't stop it, nobody can. In the major cities now, it's basically just moving piles of shit around from one point to another. The shit is never actually dealt with. All of the latrines are full, there is nowhere to move the shit anymore. That's why open-air drug markets are ignored.
The foundation of society is collapsing so it's not like drug addicts have a system waiting to help them anymore. They have no future because even people who are in a much better position than them have no future. The fiduciary responsibility of the government and society has shifted almost completely to generating wealth for private aristocrats. Public services are disappearing at an alarming rate because all the wealth is being sequestered by a small global minority. And the media has people so distracted with a bunch of bullshit that people don't realize who the real enemy is. So down we go.
You know that sounds very alarmist, with a lot of loaded language. But there is a lot of truth there too. I'm gonna add some random thoughts.
First of all I 100% support Ukraine and all its aid. Its an priority issue for me. You can ignore geopolitics but geopolitics wont ignore you and no matter how bad things are at home, an even more rapid decline of what Russian's would call 'American Hegemony" or what I might call... global order, aint gonna help. Btw I know Canada has pitifully low military spending and I apologize for that, isn't my decision. There's literally not even a politician to vote for who will increase it. The liberals just cut it, but it was at its lowest point during conversative rule in 00s. NDP and Greens certainly wouldn't increase it. Anyway getting off topic sorry.
Wealth distribution absolutely is a huge problem. Homes are unaffordable. I feel pretty much hopeless in the prospect of ever owning a house. The cheaper houses that do go up for sale get snatched up immediately by somebody with deep pockets and good credit, all done by some algorithm in seconds. Could have been an entry point into home ownership for a low income family, now another rental.
Just for perspective though, I think the direction is wrong... but breaking point aint quite here yet. US home ownership rate is 65%. Some cities are doing really bad, others aren't, and are keeping the country as a whole ticking, for now. But such a condition aint helping things like national unity.
Drugs are huge and can't be stopped - agree.
Public services disappearing. Yeah I think this one is more an American problem when the rest could be said to be western problems. Couple other places come to mind... like Greece.
I do think America is slipping as THE superpower. I think it will continue to be A superpower for a while longer at least. Possible it might go isolationist. I hope not. A lot of your advantages are your allies and domineering position, if you ask me.
The lack of (EDIT: Affordable, easy to access for everybody) healthcare and shit... its like a cultural problem. Too many people got that attitude where they hate when people get things they didn't work hard enough to earn... Even if its something needed to keep them alive.
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