Our political “elites,” having received their orders, have dutifully voted for more war and more debt. Now their major concern is how to continue gaslighting normal Americans, convince them that if leftist students stop protesting genocide we can all be at peace together. Or something like that. The narrative is getting more incoherent by the day.
But the American Empire’s war on the world is being fought financially and economically, not just militarily. From where I sit, it’s going very badly on all fronts. Doug Macgregor traces this trajectory of war and debt back to the Clinton years:
Washington DC has been hijacked since the early 90's and the Proxy Wars we congratulate ourselves about are beyond comprehension
That’s a defensible position, and I don’t have the expertise to dispute whether it may go back further. In any event, Macgregor is probably right that the Clinton years mark a sort of inflection point, a point of no return. Yes, things got worse, much worse, but that was point at which the ruling class set us on the trajectory that has now become clear. To be fair, there were always voices warning against this path.
I’m not an economist, nor any sort of financial expert. However, I’m told that what can’t go on forever won’t. This graph probably goes a long way to explaining what’s behind Jay Powell’s policy course. He frankly told Congress that he didn’t feel obliged to finance their crazy debt, but Congress takes their cues from Neocons. Powell can only use what tools he has to try to slow the craziness down, but it’s a thankless job—I mean, have you heard anyone thanking Powell? Thanks for your service, Jay? Me neither. When the bill comes due, which looks more and more likely to be sooner than expected, it won’t be pretty. It’s highly unlikely that This Time Is Different. The Next Time never is different than the previous time, but we tend not to learn.
When I see this chart, I see that Hitler movie meme in my head, with Hitler saying "As long as Central Banks keep growing UST holdings, the US fiscal situation will be fine", followed by his general nervously saying, "Uh, sir...global CB's stopped growing UST holdings in 2014."
George S Franklin @GeorgeSFrankl
thus indicating that we don't need foreign purchases to fund our deficits.
Luke Gromen @LukeGromen
...as long as the Fed's balance sheet rises by $6T like it did 2019-2022, ad infinitum
Neeraj Kathuria @EnablingNew
Then who is buying post 2014.
Luke Gromen @LukeGromen
US banks, MMF's, foreign tax shelters, & the Fed.
Who were the geniuses that did this to us? Who did they pay off? Paging Phil Gramm et alios.
Mark,
Your favorite AG is back in the news:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/04/raising-the-barr-2.php
I too think of 1990 as an inflection point. If I were making a documentary, I would use Whitney Houston's Superbowl anthem as a symbol of a high point of American optimism. In retrospect, the Soviet Union acted as a counterpoint and limit. As Jack Matlock pointed out, the fall of Soviet Union was wrongly credited by neocons to US military build-up (rather than internal Russian democracy). In any event, its fall appears to have resulted in the hubristic neocon proxy wars that have tarnished US policy ever since. Concurrently, US (and Canada) abandoned its manufacturing base and competencies. This was partly and substantially due to economic policies. But I think that an under-estimated factor was the disinterest of bright students in entering heavy industry. In prior generations, there were cadres of very bright students from farms and small towns who could rise to leadership; but in my generation, leadership of heavy industry gradually deteriorated.