General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe have been had
We have been had.
Our political leaders are criminals, modern warlords, fighting over turf and power. They consider the people they rule to be tools, not valued kin.
Whether by cruel luck or covert actions, once Trump assumed office, an opportunity arose for the other big warlords to eliminate some of the competition.
The Putin-Trump romance led to splits with other Western nations, and the dismantling of Americas image as the defender of justice and freedom. America First!
The Tea Party-Evangelical bloc loved his attack on science. That has worked out poorly.
Then Trump started with the trade wars.
What an idea, attack your partners, and while youre at it attack China.
What could China want? How about knocking the West back to Chinas economic level while also weakening the American military and erasing any hope in the Chinese populace that America could somehow rescue them.
What does China have more of than America people. 1.4 billion versus 330 million.
However the Covid 19 virus arose, China was willing to sacrifice thousands (out of 1.4 B) if it took out the modernized West.
China was able to shut down their cities because they have a long history of dictatorship and obedience. The Great Leap Forward led to the deaths of 15 35 million in the late 1950s, yet Mao retained power.
America on the other hand finds itself with a divided public in the days of the virus. Mega-churches continue to welcome thousand to gather so they can prove the doctors wrong by spreading the good news to their neighbors. Others sit at home binging on Netflix and trying new recipes until the electric grid fails.
The Third World goes through famines, floods, war, and disease on a regular basis. They dont have an economy to depend upon, so there is no threat from its collapse. We, on the other hand are dependent children, living at the end of a complex network of production and distribution that is about to disappear.
Worst case scenarios project over 2 million American deaths from Covid 19 if we dont listen to science. In a year or less. That is more than all the deaths in all the American wars since 1775.
In 2017 there were a total 2,813,503 from all causes in the US. If the healthcare system is overwhelmed by Covid 19 then many of the deaths that could have been prevented by a robust healthcare system (dialysis, cardiac surgery, early cancer diagnosis and treatment, trauma centers, etc.) will be added to the total.
I cannot imagine the economy that will come from that disaster.
We have been had.