*Editor’s note: On March 4, 2022, Russia enacted a law that criminalizes public opposition to, or independent news reporting about, the war in Ukraine. The law makes it a crime to call the war a “war” rather than a “special military operation” on social media or in a news article or broadcast. The law is understood to penalize any language that “discredits” Russia’s use of its military in Ukraine, calls for sanctions or protests Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It punishes anyone found to spread “false information” about the invasion with up to 15 years in prison.
While you’re reading this column, the U.S. national debt will definitely go up by millions of dollars: $69,000 per second, $4.18 million per minute, $250 million per hour, and $6 billion per day.
By autumn 2024, the overall debt of the federal U.S. government to its creditors exceeded $35.7 trillion. That’s $106,000 per every American.
And it’s surely only downhill from here.
With the amount of borrowing already equaling 99% of gross domestic product, a true crash awaits the U.S. over the next 30 years, equaling 166%, 180%, even 250% of GDP. Behind this pile of numbers are real mistakes that have a name, a surname, and a position. According to Elon Musk, whom Donald Trump sees in his potential administration as the person responsible for cost reduction, it’s all because of the sitting U.S. president, Joe Biden.
Over the three and a half years which he and his Democrats have spent in the White House, the American national debt has increased by $6 trillion. “U.S. government spending will lead the country to bankruptcy. And that’s the reason for inflation. We need to cut government spending dramatically, not face a debt we can’t pay,”* Musk said recently at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Among the craziest spending is for Ukraine. The total sum could be calculated differently, but if we take only what has been spent on arms, it amounts to $64 billion, according to the U.S. Department of State. Taken with other types of aid (economic and humanitarian), the sum shoots up to $200 billion. It would seem that this money has simply disappeared into the black hole of the conflict, but in reality, some serious cash has been put in the pockets of the chosen ones, those who are close to the people writing blank checks to the Kyiv regime. And they’re still convinced no one has really noticed anything. The U.S. has spent an average of 0.35% of its GDP on Ukraine since 2021. That’s if we’re not taking a closer look.
But people have already begun to look more closely. An arms-dealing giant, RTX (formerly known as Raytheon), agreed to pay out almost $1 billion to resolve fraud allegations. For four years, the company bribed an official in Qatar to arrange contracts for exporting Patriot mobile interceptor missile systems. “The Raytheon allegations are stunning, even by the lax standards of the arms industry,” the Intercept writes. “Engaging in illegal conduct on this scale suggests that, far from being an aberration, this behavior may be business as usual for the company.”
But, they can afford that. Their shareholders are happy. The total return of RTX for investors over the last year totaled 82.69%, which exceeds S&P 500 numbers by approximately 46%. And it has some good protection at the top. The current secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, moved to the Pentagon from Raytheon. We can only guess how much money the company raked in on the Ukrainian front with him in power. For example, in September, the department signed contracts with RTX for more than $1.2 billion in AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles and related equipment manufacturing. It’s expected that the contract work will be finished by Dec. 31, 2028.
Is this date that random? Because, by that time, the U.S. will have elected its 48th president, the next one after the 47th, who is set to be elected in a couple of weeks. Well, for now the U.S. “deep state,” the foundation of which is formed by such corporations as RTX, which are pushing the “facade” state toward bankruptcy, could paradoxically even benefit from Trump’s victory.
He will only be in power for four years, during which time he’ll be forced to clean up the loose ends after the current president, in Ukraine and in the Middle East, in the fields of immigration, inflation, and the national debt, as well. Unpopular decisions will form a critical mass of negative sentiment, the release of which will energize the Democrats to return to the White House to enter the next political-financial cycle. Like in a casino.
*Editor’s note: This quote, though accurately translated, could not be independently verified.
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