Our Founding Fathers had it right. Stay out of foreign wars and entangling alliances. Instead, starting with the Spanish-American War, we launched late into colonialism. We are now neck-deep in entangling alliances and are effectively at war somewhere most of the time, undeclared, of course. We threw away our manufacturing birthright and so now we produce very little besides agricultural products, bombs, and, if we are lucky, a few civil aircraft which actually fly. The American Middle Class was destroyed when services turned out not to be an equally well-paying substitute for producing manufactured products. Empires typically exhaust themselves. Just look at what the UK was and is now. The U.S. should never be about who is "ruling the world" but rather, are we defending American soil and only American soil? Stop sending billions to other countries. Every country needs to sink or swim on their own. Our Founding Fathers cared only about the American people. It is a concept totally lost today on those inside the Beltway. One day after Election Day, we are totally forgotten. There is a way to "rule the world," not through domination, but by such a good example, other countries would want to emulate it. We can only hope and pray.
American entanglements in foreign wars is not necessarily a bad thing.
When WWII started the US, under Roosevelt as president, was (in Churchill's opinion) unfairly burdened by Joseph Kennedy and his crowd who threatened to unseat Roosevelt if he allowed the US to become entangled in this "European war" which J Kennedy wanted the US to stay out of, and to let Britain sink.. And so the British people, and the western world suffered until the US got involved. And that only happened because Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
This was a war in which the US got "entangled" and the entire free world benefited from it.
US entanglement is not necessarily a bad thing, even though Joseph Kennedy applied great pressure on Roosevelt to make "entanglement" look bad.
I believe that the US entanglement in WWII, especially in Europe, was a great thing, and a disgrace to Joseph Kennedy's efforts.
Britain bit off more than it could chew when it went to war over Poland. It was very selective who it declared war on; only Germany despite the USSR also invading and dividing Poland with Germany. So American boys should die for British alliances getting themselves into war? Perhaps they shouldn't have rushed into war, especially as unprepared as they were. One would have thought the slaughter of WWI would have given some pause. Ironically, they went to war for Poland and Poland ended up behind the Iron Curtain. Lots of blood and treasure expended and the initial reason for war blows up in your face in the end. The British lost their Empire and their their Reserve Currency status.. Was it really worth it to now inconsequential Britain? They are now a shadow of their former selves. Americans should rescue the stupidity of the British and have lots of our troops dead and wounded?
As for Pearl Harbor, we provoked it. In the first major use of sanctions, we told Japan to get out of China and we effectively froze their financial assets. While this has to be abbreviated here, we also cut off their oil. We were like Saudi Arabia to Japan. They bought the vast majority of oil from America and could not replace it from other sources. Before doing this, the Navy was asked if this action would provoke a war. The Navy said, No, but the Army said Yes. It was decided to go with it anyway. We know the tragic result. Why was Pearl Harbor not told to put absolutely everything on alert? FDR wanted to get in the war and he just figured there would be some small attack somewhere. In the Russo-Japanese War, Japan attacked without declaring war, so there was no excuse. As they say, the victors write the history books.
A book on this economic war and oil embargo is "Bankrupting the Enemy" by Edward S. Miller, printed by the Naval Institute Press. It is not a sensational book and can get quite tedious with the financial details. This makes it more believable because this is a sleeper book and extremely well documented. He did not write it for the NYT Best Seller list.
We are going the way of once Great Britain, getting in constant conflicts, piling on debt, and we will eventually lose our Reserve Currency status as we destroy the value of the Dollar. So it has gone with every empire. What exactly have we really accomplished in the last 25 years of this century? Think about it. We have spent a lot of money and have nothing to really show for it. Presidential candidates are largely a laughingstock. Is this the best we can do? Statesmanship is dead. On to the next war until we either are clueless enough to tackle China or we run out of debt someone will buy, whichever occurs first. Remember, FDR removed the primary gold backing from the Dollar and unconstitutionally forbad Americans to own gold. Fiat monies all die because politicians cannot resist printing until no one will take them anymore.
Before my first mining venture (trip) to China in 1997, I read a little about Chinese history so I would know a little about this "hidden" country before I arrived.
About 400 years ago, there was a Chinese ruler (a foolish man whose name I don't remember) who recognized that China was the most technologically advanced country in the world at the time. And in that he was close to being right.
But he decided that in order to maintain China's status, and not to become "ideologically polluted " by the world, China should isolate itself from the rest of the world. In order to do that he ordered that (and here I'm a little unsure of the details) he ordered that most of the Chinese navy be burned to prevent Chinese people from visiting the rest of the world and being polluted by it.
By that act he destroyed China's ability to defend itself, and that allowed the British to dominate China when they arrived.
In my career in mining I have been able to visit China four times and I developed a great respect for that country.
I had the amazing privilege of being in China in late 2003 ( I thinki t was November) when they put their first man in space and brought him safely back to earth after 16 times round the earth in a polar orbit.
When he emerged safely after landing, the entire country erupted in jubilation. Strangers in the streets were patting each other on the back in shared joy and they were saying "If we can do this, we can do anything."
And I became convinced that they were right.
I concluded that while the US dominates the world now, I would not be surprised if China surpasses the US by the (approximately) the middle of this century.
Our Founding Fathers had it right. Stay out of foreign wars and entangling alliances. Instead, starting with the Spanish-American War, we launched late into colonialism. We are now neck-deep in entangling alliances and are effectively at war somewhere most of the time, undeclared, of course. We threw away our manufacturing birthright and so now we produce very little besides agricultural products, bombs, and, if we are lucky, a few civil aircraft which actually fly. The American Middle Class was destroyed when services turned out not to be an equally well-paying substitute for producing manufactured products. Empires typically exhaust themselves. Just look at what the UK was and is now. The U.S. should never be about who is "ruling the world" but rather, are we defending American soil and only American soil? Stop sending billions to other countries. Every country needs to sink or swim on their own. Our Founding Fathers cared only about the American people. It is a concept totally lost today on those inside the Beltway. One day after Election Day, we are totally forgotten. There is a way to "rule the world," not through domination, but by such a good example, other countries would want to emulate it. We can only hope and pray.
American entanglements in foreign wars is not necessarily a bad thing.
When WWII started the US, under Roosevelt as president, was (in Churchill's opinion) unfairly burdened by Joseph Kennedy and his crowd who threatened to unseat Roosevelt if he allowed the US to become entangled in this "European war" which J Kennedy wanted the US to stay out of, and to let Britain sink.. And so the British people, and the western world suffered until the US got involved. And that only happened because Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
This was a war in which the US got "entangled" and the entire free world benefited from it.
US entanglement is not necessarily a bad thing, even though Joseph Kennedy applied great pressure on Roosevelt to make "entanglement" look bad.
I believe that the US entanglement in WWII, especially in Europe, was a great thing, and a disgrace to Joseph Kennedy's efforts.
(Jay, apologies for hijacking your post. MW.)
Britain bit off more than it could chew when it went to war over Poland. It was very selective who it declared war on; only Germany despite the USSR also invading and dividing Poland with Germany. So American boys should die for British alliances getting themselves into war? Perhaps they shouldn't have rushed into war, especially as unprepared as they were. One would have thought the slaughter of WWI would have given some pause. Ironically, they went to war for Poland and Poland ended up behind the Iron Curtain. Lots of blood and treasure expended and the initial reason for war blows up in your face in the end. The British lost their Empire and their their Reserve Currency status.. Was it really worth it to now inconsequential Britain? They are now a shadow of their former selves. Americans should rescue the stupidity of the British and have lots of our troops dead and wounded?
As for Pearl Harbor, we provoked it. In the first major use of sanctions, we told Japan to get out of China and we effectively froze their financial assets. While this has to be abbreviated here, we also cut off their oil. We were like Saudi Arabia to Japan. They bought the vast majority of oil from America and could not replace it from other sources. Before doing this, the Navy was asked if this action would provoke a war. The Navy said, No, but the Army said Yes. It was decided to go with it anyway. We know the tragic result. Why was Pearl Harbor not told to put absolutely everything on alert? FDR wanted to get in the war and he just figured there would be some small attack somewhere. In the Russo-Japanese War, Japan attacked without declaring war, so there was no excuse. As they say, the victors write the history books.
A book on this economic war and oil embargo is "Bankrupting the Enemy" by Edward S. Miller, printed by the Naval Institute Press. It is not a sensational book and can get quite tedious with the financial details. This makes it more believable because this is a sleeper book and extremely well documented. He did not write it for the NYT Best Seller list.
We are going the way of once Great Britain, getting in constant conflicts, piling on debt, and we will eventually lose our Reserve Currency status as we destroy the value of the Dollar. So it has gone with every empire. What exactly have we really accomplished in the last 25 years of this century? Think about it. We have spent a lot of money and have nothing to really show for it. Presidential candidates are largely a laughingstock. Is this the best we can do? Statesmanship is dead. On to the next war until we either are clueless enough to tackle China or we run out of debt someone will buy, whichever occurs first. Remember, FDR removed the primary gold backing from the Dollar and unconstitutionally forbad Americans to own gold. Fiat monies all die because politicians cannot resist printing until no one will take them anymore.
Can‘t wait to listen to this conversation Jay. I had no idea about the Chinese explorer Zheng He or his massive commercial fleet. Truly fascinating.
Yes.
Fascinating history.
Before my first mining venture (trip) to China in 1997, I read a little about Chinese history so I would know a little about this "hidden" country before I arrived.
About 400 years ago, there was a Chinese ruler (a foolish man whose name I don't remember) who recognized that China was the most technologically advanced country in the world at the time. And in that he was close to being right.
But he decided that in order to maintain China's status, and not to become "ideologically polluted " by the world, China should isolate itself from the rest of the world. In order to do that he ordered that (and here I'm a little unsure of the details) he ordered that most of the Chinese navy be burned to prevent Chinese people from visiting the rest of the world and being polluted by it.
By that act he destroyed China's ability to defend itself, and that allowed the British to dominate China when they arrived.
In my career in mining I have been able to visit China four times and I developed a great respect for that country.
I had the amazing privilege of being in China in late 2003 ( I thinki t was November) when they put their first man in space and brought him safely back to earth after 16 times round the earth in a polar orbit.
When he emerged safely after landing, the entire country erupted in jubilation. Strangers in the streets were patting each other on the back in shared joy and they were saying "If we can do this, we can do anything."
And I became convinced that they were right.
I concluded that while the US dominates the world now, I would not be surprised if China surpasses the US by the (approximately) the middle of this century.