"You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability"
In another perspective, if Neo were to signify the "great" US, then Agent Smith would be the agent of karma, propounding but the obvious, if "slightly" unpleasant truth to the country: Its time your karma catches up with you.
US continues to be an oft analysed and written about topic of my blogposts, but its only because its truly one of the most interesting places and at a cusp in its history, not really an inflection point as it has long gone past but definitely in an accelerated slide. As history would like us to remember, in vain, that the fall of an empire is because of its hubris, irrespective of what political, economic or cultural foundation it has. No empire, without exceptions has been able to sustain the path of excess as Rome, Britain and the Soviet would testify.
The Economic Fall: A lot has been written about it, i wrote a blog myself. But as i have read more and more about what American capitalism has truly come to stand for, the major culprit has been excluded from almost all anlysis of the current crisis: the government, state or the system, The Party if you must. America is really a nation of one party; the elites that control most of the political power. The Fed, or the central bank's loose monetary policy is what caused the housing bubble and debt problems in the first place. By keeping interest rates artifically low at almost 1% for a long time, it encouraged reckless borrowing. This caused both the sub prime crisis and the debt crisis as the easy credit encouraged people to borrow money they never really could repay.
The role of any central bank is to reduce the impact of business cycles of recession and boom and to keep inflation low. Earlier, when money used to be tied to gold, i.e. the gold standard, the money supply in the economy was pegged to something tangible i.e. the gold, which was directly related to how productive your economy was (goods produced, no. of workers, amount of trade etc.). This kept a check on misuse of monetary policy. However, once the gold standard was repealed, the Fed has been endlessly used for political motives, like wars by creating artificial or fiat money, out of thin air! What this loose monetry policy does is cause inflation which erodes savings and devalues the currency. Thus the central bank has been dangerously manipulated to achieve political goals and at the same time to discourage people to save and promote endless consumption as a result of inflation.
The status quo thus far was that American Dollar was the most trusted currency because of the belief in the nation, but now the Fed has created trillions of dollars of debt, out of thin air, and given it all to the bankers. This is the biggest, illegetimate transfer of wealth in history of mankind and shows the compliance of politicians with the bankers. And just as the Japanese lost decade would indicate, this policy is not going to work. The major difference is that the Japenese were big savers.
Thus the dollar has been debased, the wealth has been transferred to the very people who were partly reponsible for the debacle and the unemployment keeps rising and they have more debt than ever, in the history of civilsation. America sits at the edge of economic disaster of hyperinflationary depression
The Political decline: One of the common characteristics of Empires is their intention of imposing their ideologies on other countries, by the means of wars and force. The two disastrous wars America is fighting is an example. Not only are they responsible for so many deaths, but they don't have any real reason to fight the wars in the first place. Just like the Afghanistan war expedited the fall of Soviet Union, so will these wars. Needless to say, wars are expensive, damaging to a country's reputation and start a vicious spiral of violence and animosity.
And their political system is in shambles. A system of politicians brought to power by the corporate elite through their money has resulted in America becoming a Corporate Entity, with all the political decisions favoring the big corporates. Be it the gun industry, the finance industry, the big pharma, everyones part of the faceless 'system' resulting in a concentration of wealth and power in a few hands.
The Societal decline: A significant proportion of the population is on anti-depressants, a large number have no health care, young students fall into huge debt burdens because of enormous college fee, millions losing their homes, one-fourth of the incarcerated people on earth are in US prisons, gun violence is increasing, wealth is concentrated into a few hands and is increasingly getting concentrated. The list is long and scary and shows the extent to which the American society is damaged. The financilisation of every aspect of life has resulted in a society alienated and largely dependent on the 'Corporate Gods' for every aspect of their survival. And a media which is again controlled by the Coporates has facilitated this fall, instead of being the saviour of truth and liberty.
The Soviet analogy: The Soviet had a lot in common with the US , as an empire. External wars, huge debts and a society suppressed by the state. And all these resulted in the collapse of the mighty Soviet empire. And its not just communism or totalitarianism which resulted in its fall, but the hubris and the excess pride and the military misadventures and overreach. Soviet had a relatively soft landing as whatever was there (housing, transportation) was created by state and came to be owned by people directly. And they were net exporters of oil. And lets face it, the Russians have seen some shit in their lives so they know how to handle it. The US on the other hand imports 65% of its oil, has little house ownership at a national scale and depends woefully on cars. Its a recipe for disaster.
An American would be indignated at a random guy forming judgments on his 'great' nation, and he has a right to do so. But if history were to tell us anything, the fall of the might US is inevitable, much as like Agent Smith proclaims. In the movie Neo turns out to be the 'one'. In the real life however, you have to answer your karma. The paths of excess are just not sustainable. Much as even the wonders of capitalism would want to, they cannot defy the second law of thermodynamics and endlessly expand seeking profit in every which way without facing the consequences.
In the meantime, if i were American, i'd buy gold, start community farming and drink beer. Oh wait, i can still drink the beer.
Burp!
