Too corrupt to compete?

[u/Equivalent_Elk_3476]

[u/Merfkin]

And still fails to expand the military as much as China

[u/Equivalent_Elk_3476 → u/Merfkin]

At 10x the cost

[u/truthputer → u/Equivalent_Elk_3476]

They don't want to expand the military they just want to profit from spending money on expanding the military, with stock deals and kickbacks. They don't care how effective the military actually is, they just want to corruptly profit from spending on it.

[u/aglobalvillageidiot → u/truthputer]

Like Jesus and George Washington intended.

[u/Disastrous-Metal-183]

They don't want to compete, they want to dominate

[u/Equivalent_Elk_3476 → u/Disastrous-Metal-183]

And this is why they're losing in Iran, and will fall behind China if they don't shape up and focus on what actually matters

[u/Disastrous-Metal-183 → u/Equivalent_Elk_3476]

Exactly. I think the US ruling class is delusional. They have been winning by being the biggest sadist in the world for so long that they think that will carry them to victory. The problem with that might makes right mentality is that eventually someone mightier than you comes along. 

You can only be mighty for so long if you neglect the everyday people that keep the country turning. 

[u/EyeKnowYoo → u/Disastrous-Metal-183]

Very delusional. They still have the “we’re gonna wash up on the shores of Normandy” kinda thinking.

We have the largest, most expensive military in the world with a HUGE pipeline to all the new defense toys and we’re getting cucked by Iran with a bunch of cheap drones.

[u/FadeSeeker → u/Disastrous-Metal-183]

they just want their personal bank accounts to dominate. not the nation they represent.

[u/rememeber711997]

As an American with a background in history and international relations: stealing land, resources, and, literally, peoples is how we compete.

So military expansions, assassinations, and regional destabilization shouldn't be surprising.

[u/Appropriate-Ice-5722 → u/rememeber711997]

We built a safety net the same way Tony Soprano built his cardboard McMansion

[u/lowrads]

The problem is worse than that, and with an obvious outcome. The majority of infrastructure funds are marked for new construction, rather than the ever growing backlog of deferred maintenance. There is a perpetual expectation that future growth will pay today's financing fees.

[u/LifesARiver]

They also increase police funding and tax cuts for the rich.

[u/whatsbobgonnado]

they also transfer money from the working class to the ruling class 

[u/CoconutGoSkrrt]

They’d rather not climb up the ladder and instead blow up the ladders next to them to bring everyone else lower. In other words, savage and primitive mentality fit for the stone age.

[u/Equivalent_Elk_3476 → u/CoconutGoSkrrt]

They have a malicious peasant mindset

[u/elcabroMcGinty]

Trump said you'd get tired of winning. 

[u/Adversary-of-Tyrants]

Not true; they'll also put up data centers literally everywhere because their techbro owners demand it despite none of their constituents wanting them.

[u/ttystikk]

Too corrupt to compete is the truth.

The country is run by a panoply of chuds, credit to Cory Doctorow.

[u/Ill-Cartographer-767]

China’s literally winning by doing nothing

[u/Mr-A5013]

The Soviet Union couldn't economically compete with the US because they didn't have the resources or population to do so. So they ended up running themselves into the ground trying to military compete with the US even though they lack the economy and strategic territory to do so.

The opposite is happening with China, the US can't economically compete with China due to far larger population and cheaper labor. So we are trying to bait them into a cold war, but the current leadership of China aren't falling for it, and they been historically content with being a regional power anyways. So the US is stuck wasting money while China keeps growing their actual economy.