Gangrene
Empires never surrender — they rot. No empire exists without an end. We are afforded the rare spectacle of watching the American empire descend into scum while still holding immense military power. But that power is of no use to it. Gangrene spreads, eating away at the body it afflicts. The signs of gangrene are Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Kristi Noem, Russell Vought, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and their numerous ilk. Empires reveal their decay in the corruption of their ruling elites, in the inevitable erosion of the ideas that once forged consensus around them, in the crises and brutalities their economy inflicts on the societies they dominate, and in an inescapable fate: he who grasps at too much loses everything. Empires hunger fiercely to expand, always to seize more and more — territories, societies, wealth.
The Roman Empire collapsed amid massive inflation, ever-rising military spending, and an urgent need for more — always more — enslaved people. Its power was weakened by the political division between the Eastern and Western Empires and further eroded by civil wars and palace intrigues over the throne. The Spanish Empire ended in financial bankruptcy, runaway inflation caused by the wealth plundered from the American colonies, and its self-serving involvement in wars such as the 30 Years’ War, which drained its coffers. It was also a parasitic economy that avoided developing its own industries, relying instead on the endless plunder of gold and silver from the colonies. In the end, it lost the goose that laid the golden eggs: the colonies gained independence. The British Empire was suffocated by two world wars that brought it to total bankruptcy, alongside decolonization movements, including that of India. As the empire was drowning, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics emerged as new powers, both radically opposed to the British Empire’s old territory-based colonialism. That empire had never stopped trying to expand further and further: It came to dominate and govern nearly a quarter of the planet, a lunatic undertaking for an exhausted little island.
And there goes the American empire. After the collapse of the USSR, the U.S. convinced itself that, through economic and financial mechanisms — above all the international architecture sustaining the dollar — it could impose absolute dominion over the entire planet. It believed that its unmatched military forces would allow it to bring any act of defiance to heel. It imagined that Hollywood ideology, joined to its industrial strength and extraordinary capacity for innovation, would rule indefinitely. It was wrong in every respect.
Hollywood ideology is increasingly despised by broader layers of society on every continent. The power of American bombs — together with its ships, submarines, aircraft, and the whole apparatus that surrounds them — is moving steadily toward obsolescence, toward scrap. The first major indication of this trajectory is its powerless war with Iran. The multibillion-dollar cost of U.S. bombing amounts to nothing. Meanwhile, its military budget only continues to grow, placing an ever-heavier weight on the national debt.
Currencies are decisive elements in the formation of states, sustained by complex institutional and legal frameworks. Empires' currencies play a central role in international trade and, consequently, a prominent role in the geopolitical struggle. The British pound remained the leading international currency for years after Great Britain’s geopolitical heyday. A similar fate may await the dollar.
The 1974 agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which required oil to be traded internationally only in dollars, endured for half a century. It gave rise to the “superdollar,” but the Arab world chose not to renew it. From that point, the dollar entered a path of decline, deepened by growing international distrust of Treasury bonds in light of U.S. federal public debt equal to 122.5% of the gross domestic product. The manufacturing sector, which propelled the United States to the top of the global economy, is in free fall. The value added by the manufacturing sector as a percentage of gross domestic product has followed a long-term decline. In the 1950s, it represented between 21% and 28% of GDP; today, that figure has dropped to 9.5%.
Meanwhile, China is growing and thriving. More than one-third of the world’s manufacturing output now comes from China. Many of its cities, striking in their cleanliness and modernity, stand in vivid contrast to the decay and grime of American urban life. Shenzhen, for example, has become a world-class manufacturing center and hub of technological innovation; its Shenzhen North Railway and Metro Station looks like a space station. New York, the most important city in the United States, has a subway that reeks of shit and weed.
The United States, seeking to revive its waning existence, is now setting out to destroy communism — only to discover that it's not there. Rubio has been assigned the task of hunting down leftists everywhere, as though they were the devil incarnate. Kaput.
The Roman Empire collapsed amid massive inflation, ever-rising military spending, and an urgent need for more — always more — enslaved people. Its power was weakened by the political division between the Eastern and Western Empires and further eroded by civil wars and palace intrigues over the throne. The Spanish Empire ended in financial bankruptcy, runaway inflation caused by the wealth plundered from the American colonies, and its self-serving involvement in wars such as the 30 Years’ War, which drained its coffers. It was also a parasitic economy that avoided developing its own industries, relying instead on the endless plunder of gold and silver from the colonies. In the end, it lost the goose that laid the golden eggs: the colonies gained independence. The British Empire was suffocated by two world wars that brought it to total bankruptcy, alongside decolonization movements, including that of India. As the empire was drowning, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics emerged as new powers, both radically opposed to the British Empire’s old territory-based colonialism. That empire had never stopped trying to expand further and further: It came to dominate and govern nearly a quarter of the planet, a lunatic undertaking for an exhausted little island.
And there goes the American empire. After the collapse of the USSR, the U.S. convinced itself that, through economic and financial mechanisms — above all the international architecture sustaining the dollar — it could impose absolute dominion over the entire planet. It believed that its unmatched military forces would allow it to bring any act of defiance to heel. It imagined that Hollywood ideology, joined to its industrial strength and extraordinary capacity for innovation, would rule indefinitely. It was wrong in every respect.
Hollywood ideology is increasingly despised by broader layers of society on every continent. The power of American bombs — together with its ships, submarines, aircraft, and the whole apparatus that surrounds them — is moving steadily toward obsolescence, toward scrap. The first major indication of this trajectory is its powerless war with Iran. The multibillion-dollar cost of U.S. bombing amounts to nothing. Meanwhile, its military budget only continues to grow, placing an ever-heavier weight on the national debt.
Currencies are decisive elements in the formation of states, sustained by complex institutional and legal frameworks. Empires' currencies play a central role in international trade and, consequently, a prominent role in the geopolitical struggle. The British pound remained the leading international currency for years after Great Britain’s geopolitical heyday. A similar fate may await the dollar.
The 1974 agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which required oil to be traded internationally only in dollars, endured for half a century. It gave rise to the “superdollar,” but the Arab world chose not to renew it. From that point, the dollar entered a path of decline, deepened by growing international distrust of Treasury bonds in light of U.S. federal public debt equal to 122.5% of the gross domestic product. The manufacturing sector, which propelled the United States to the top of the global economy, is in free fall. The value added by the manufacturing sector as a percentage of gross domestic product has followed a long-term decline. In the 1950s, it represented between 21% and 28% of GDP; today, that figure has dropped to 9.5%.
Meanwhile, China is growing and thriving. More than one-third of the world’s manufacturing output now comes from China. Many of its cities, striking in their cleanliness and modernity, stand in vivid contrast to the decay and grime of American urban life. Shenzhen, for example, has become a world-class manufacturing center and hub of technological innovation; its Shenzhen North Railway and Metro Station looks like a space station. New York, the most important city in the United States, has a subway that reeks of shit and weed.
The United States, seeking to revive its waning existence, is now setting out to destroy communism — only to discover that it's not there. Rubio has been assigned the task of hunting down leftists everywhere, as though they were the devil incarnate. Kaput.
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