America Has A Terminal Case Of Capitalism (In Two Charts)
America has a case of capitalism so bad it’s literally killing them. They’re so violently ill that it’s killing everyone. America has a terminal case of capitalism. Just look at their charts.
First healthcare:
Life
America somehow spends more on healthcare to get less life. Who does this benefit? Capital.
Then look at warfare:
Death
Since 9/11, America has spent over $6.4 trillion and killed millions of people, and for what? This is more than they spent on World War II. Who does this benefit? Again, capital.
It goes on and on. Behind every outrage in the news is someone’s stock portfolio going up.
Life & Death
Who benefits from climate change? Carbon capital. Who benefits from a prison state? Carceral capital. It goes on and on. Why is America monopolizing mRNA vaccines? So monopolies can make money. Why does America have so many guns? Because someone makes money selling them.
You can get lost in abstract arguments about all of these issues, but then someone makes money on those arguments, selling books and advertising. You can get lost in ‘per capita’ figures without understanding that the real unit is per capital. You can get lost in the weeds, or just follow the money. America’s capitol is capital. It’s constitution is capitalism.
Behind every outrage, every stupidity, just understand that someone is making money on it. That explains it all. It also explains the fall.
Collapse
To brutally condense the work of Joseph Tainter (The Collapse of Complex Societies), civilizations collapse when they hit diminishing returns and elites gobble them up. You can see this happening across the American economy.
