our country must amass increasing amounts of the world’s resources

My anger mounted at the realization that we in the United States are told that we must fear scarcity, that we should buy more, work harder, keep accumulating, bury ourselves in more and more debt. This mentality goes beyond the personal to become an aspect of national patriotism — our country must amass increasing amounts of the world’s resources. We are assured that the debt used to finance the military is necessary for our own good — the same argument that had been used on the subjects of those feudal emperors.

Is this true? Are Americans are taught this?

The propaganda isn't stated quite that coherently. It sounds like the basic creed of neocons, that the US has a divine mission that amounts to "Manifest Destiny" but applying to world domination. I'd say, yes, that is exactly what we in the US assume the norm to be, but it's implied and under the surface.

Another model for the social and economic behavior of the US is general exploitation. The objective of every business and government enterprise in the US is to target and exploit some part of the population or economy. IE, trivial example: CA dumps billions of dollars into homeless services, directors of these NGOs take home enormous paychecks, yet homeless keep increasing in California. The homelessness "aid" industry exploits the homeless and keeps them homeless in order to extract wealth.

I wouldn't describe it quite like that, but consumerism is a big part of our economy. It wasn't done for patriotic reasons, it's just living life in America. No matter what you're taught, you do what's right for you. I don't understand "amass increasing amounts of the world's resources". I was never taught that.

We absolutely need a strong military. Peace through strength as Trump would say. We were always told any debt incurred to fund the military was necessary.

It came from New Confessions of an Economic Hitman. I was curious what your perspectives were.

I was wondering where the quote was from. Most people I talk to are just trying to maintain their current lifestyle at this point. In the Biden/Harris economy, it costs almost 20% more now than it used to because of inflation. More people have to charge living expenses on credit cards which have, on average, a 20% interest rate. That's why they're in debt. It's economic slavery.

Yes, that is the US in a nutshell. Material manifest destiny. Steal, take, conscript, commandeer all noticed resources for the US.

IMO the notion that it's just consumer economics driven is way too narrow. Yeah, there is the consumer economy that benefits. But this accumulation is core to national sovereignty and prestige and also military power. That is exactly what the quote points out.

Basically this is the stuff that Bill Kristol or Dick Cheney have sloppy wet dreams about. Dominating the world and taking what the US wants like a global high tech Viking hoard.

Due to the nature of our monetary system, continuous inflation is necessary. Debt-based money requires continuous inflation.

When they measure "economic growth", they use the CPI, which understates true inflation. In real dollar terms, per-capita GDP actually is flat or decreasing. To see this, calculate GDP divided by price of gold. The price of gold is a much less biased inflation measure than the CPI. You also can use the price of silver or copper. The ratio gold/silver and gold/copper are pretty stable.

There is inflation misreported as economic growth.

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P.A.G.A.N. - People Against Goodness And Normalcy

our country must amass increasing amounts of the world’s resources (Public Board)