I fully expect to get push back here, and honestly, I'm looking forward to it. The truth is that my thought process here has been slowly maturing into a picture that makes sense to me, but it does not mean it stands without flaws.

img src: grius.com

My motivation behind this post should be obvious, even though I realize not many people will read along. This stuff can get a bit confusing and the macro of it all, can only be accepted if we make some assertions that can be argued against.

I'll start with the basics, and possibly the point that we should all agree with.

The US economy relies on consumer overspending

This is no secret, and we know this all too well. I mean, there's right of passage into adulthood in the US, and it's to get your very first credit card.

It might seem like hyperbole, but I suspect that my experienced is shared by the majority of people in the first world. Now the question is: Why do people need credit cards?

Well, debt is the fuel to keep people working. The idea is that you continue to consume, possibly things that you don't really need, you may want them, but not need them, in order to do the responsible thing and work yourself to the bone to pay them off.

Saving to buy the things you want requires discipline, and it's not a reliable way of promoting more consumption. In other words, the immediate gratification of getting material things by acquiring debt, is a lot more effective than developing a culture of saving.

Throw it away

This excessive consumerism as you might imagine leads to enormous waste. After living in a third world country for over a year now, the picture is even more obvious. The idea of fixing things, instead of just replacing them is not the american way.

It makes perfect sense that the machine runs in a resource inefficient way, since the idea is not really to protect resources, but to maximize the snowball, to aggrandize the economic network in order to allocate funds to the "important" things.

The Network effect

In economics, a network effect is the phenomenon by which the value or utility a user derives from a good or service depends on the number of users of compatible products. Network effects are typically positive, resulting in a given user deriving more value from a product as other users join the same network.

This very definition is not alien to us participants of this space, more so among those of us who are using this very blockchain, but it's worth mentioning to frame the conversation properly.

You see, in a macro sense, of course, the US economy, the dollar is this very thing. The more countries that use the dollar, the more the world economy is reliant on the petro-dollar, the more the network effect is strengthened.

We know the dollar has nothing backing it up. There is no gold reserve per say, and we also know the value of the mighty dollar is pretty much tied to the political power of the US.

If you happen to find my statement a little far fetched, ask yourself the following question: What other country gets to print money without disastrous consequences like the US does?

This is not to say it will never crash and burn, but only to point out the trick has been working well since World War 2.

Ok, but... War?

This is where it the feedback loop works it's magic. In order to remain a strong contender in the global market, the US must be scary to mess with to the rest of the world.

It's not once or twice, or even thrice, that we've intervened in other countries to save them from their "lack of democracy". This War machine, this ridiculously bloated army of us is essential towards remaining on top of the food chain.

The American government allocates ungodly amounts of money, the biggest part of their annual budget to feeding the war machine.

I would encourage anyone who doubts this to look up the numbers. Even an old pie chart like this one looks ridiculous to me, and this is nothing compared to what we are spending these days.

We are the Cogs

Which is finally the point of this train of thought. We, the people, the guy and gal that does the 9 to 5, participate in the "democracy" circus, get in debt, and feed the economic monster so that it can continue to bomb the world.

Does this make me sound unpatriotic? Maybe to some, but I happen to know the difference between the people, and the "representatives" who represent special interest like the military complex and forgot what their job was supposed to be.

Hence why I think it's important to revolt against the system, to opt out, if you will... At least for me. I'm certainly not asking anyone to follow, but just o consider the points I'm making, or not.

If we pretend it's not there, then it's not... I think that's how it works.

MenO