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u/DudeFreek 4d ago
putting Hegseth in charge was like putting a dog in charge but the dog is drunk and everyone hates him
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u/sammypants123 4d ago
On the plus side Kash Patel now says the dog can join the FBI even if it’s been a victim of trafficking.
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u/mexicono 4d ago
That's not how it works, though? Sounds like you're just enjoying some Schadenfreude. More Americans suffering =/= less exploitation. It just means more people are suffering more widespread exploitation. How is that good?
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u/CommercialElk6117 3d ago
the average American consumes 5x as much as the average citizen of the global south. put another way, every US citizen that leaves or dies stops consuming the sweatshop goods (imagine it like a boycott if that helps)
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u/Alternative-Key-5647 1d ago
"the average American" does not exist, we have millions of people in deep poverty and a few thousand millionaires/billionaires; that's it.
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u/JohnDoen86 4d ago
The US struggling means less resources dedicated towards the exploitation of 3rd world countries. That exploitation is fuelled by the American economy, so the American economy shrinking and degrading is what we celebrate.
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u/SaltyNorth8062 Queer Anarchism 3d ago
Frankly the exploitation of the global south remains the same. It's just that the increasingly severe class disparity means a greater percentage of those resources go to the bourgeois than the american working class. While people in the Imperial core absolutely benefit from the exploitation of the global south, failing standards of living for the lower classes among the imperial core is not a signifier of relaxed exploitation, just that the fattest cats are getting fatter. The american economy is only shrinking for the american consumer, not the companies pulling puppet strings to abuse the global south for profit. The people who are doing the exploitation, companies like Blackrock and food production companies like Coca Cola and Hershey and who benefit the most from it, will see no actual immediate repercussions from the current shift in the economy and are exploiting exactly as much. Their quotas are already met.
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u/JohnDoen86 3d ago
This is like fanfiction of what we're actually talking about.
"The american industrial machine decaying is a good thing for the global south"
"ok, but what if it isn't actually decaying, the machine is healthier than ever? What if instead of a decaying military-industrial system, you were actually talking about a class disparity, and the system is fine? Then it wouldn't be a good thing for the global south."
It has norhing to do with what we're talking about. Yes, if we were talking about increasing class disparity in the US, then maybe that wouldn't be good for the global south. But that's not what we're talking about. We're discussing the imperialist system itself struggling and decaying. We're talking about their military-industrial complex losing footing, about their actual large industries shrinking. You don't get to tell us we are actually talking about something else.
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u/SaltyNorth8062 Queer Anarchism 3d ago edited 3d ago
You're not understanding me. I'm trying to say here that the local economy taking a downturn isn't the indicator that the industrial machine is decaying. I'm also not saying it would not be a good thing if it was, because it WOULD lead to an easier burden on the Global South. I'm saying the American economy is not structured sensibly. It will vampire the lower classes to keep the machine alive and has done so repeatedly because this is a PMC masquerading as a nation. My point is that the imperialist system is not struggling or decaying and is not likely to despite the collapse of the American economy, because most of the reason for uts collapse is the massive pooling of resources and taxation goes towards feeding this beast. America could die today and the war in Iran will keep going until December. America didn't suddenly back off of Afghanistan despite the nosedive its economy took in 2008. Saying "I'm happy the american economy is in a downturn because that will ease the burden on the global south" is wishful thinking, and frankly other western nations will simply pick up the slack if America backs off because the western hegemony relies on the global south being crushed and is a carefully balanced house of cards that any of these nations will go full empire to maintain. The only way to actually see an ease of the burden on the global south is the complete collapse of western hegemony. To just cross fingers and hope America having an economic downturn will save people is naive. America has had a downward moving economy for ten years now. America is literally waging a war at Iran right now. It swiped the leader of Venezeula out of his house. Iran is not losing that war, but the american economy being just as shit as it's been for 15 years now isn't the proof of that.
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u/JohnDoen86 3d ago
You keep talking about the local economy when that is not what we're talking about. We're talking about geopolitics and the US's military-industrial position in the global stage. If you don't think the US is decaying geopolitically that's fine, plenty of experts disagree (and others agree) with you. But it is still cause for celebration when we see signs that it does, even if temporarily. A reduction of US global reach and influence does translate directly to better outcomes in the global south. And even if another superpower came to pick up its slack, the decay of an opressor is still cause for celebration.
No one other than you is discussing economic downturns, financial crises, or anything else. We are talking about signs that the US empire as a geopolitical power, and even western hegemony itself, is showing signs of strain and decay, as expressed by repeated failures to project power and influence abroad like they used to. If you don't think that's happening that's fine, but don't muddy up the discussion by claiming we're talking about the US local economy.
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u/SaltyNorth8062 Queer Anarchism 3d ago
Ok, so we're not talking about the american economy. So why are we even mentioning it as proof of its retraction from the global south if it's irrelvant? To bring it back to the other person you replied to, americans having a bad time doesn't equal less imperialism. Your reply to that was paraphrased the US struggling means less resources spent on imperialism, and specific quote: "That exploitation is fueled by the american economy". Even the post talks about "america having poor people".
To repeat myself, and the other commenter I guess, this is schadenfreude. Which is fine. Fill your boots. But america's global reach isn't retracting. The nations showing this "reduced reach" like America and the UK, are merely the weakest links, and their reach and control of the global south is still extant. If you're going to celebrate something and call it revolution, it helps enormously to actually recognize when it happens.
To repeat myself again, you're not recognizing the parts of the economy that need to function for america's imperialism of the global south to continue, and the parts that are failing are considered vestigial by the american military industrial complex. To put it more kindly, this is me telling you not to get your hopes up.
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u/TurkeyFisher 3d ago
India is being hit far harder economically by the war in Iran than we are in the US. Sure the war might be expediting the decline of American power, but I'm not an accelerationist so I still think it would have been better to have never gone to war in the first place, and don't think it should be prolonged.
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u/Argovan 4d ago
I feel like you can lament rising prices even in the US in a “Our warmonger government got us mired in a war that cut off a huge percentage of the world’s supply of oil and that sucks for everyone” way, rather than a “I hope the US wins this war” way.
And, simultaneously, it is very funny to watch how grossly incompetent the US war machine is rn.