Welcome to the U.S. police state where talk of war, threat of war, and actual war takes center stage. Which country will feel the heavy hand of the American colossus next? Venezuela, Iran, or the long shot North Korea? War abroad means massive surveillance and repression at home and bankrupt social programs. While the U.S. blows over $1 trillion dollars on defense and the costs of maintaining 800 bases (that we know about) in over 70 countries and troops in 150 countries, the people suffer under a privatized healthcare system that has big business written all over it, 44 million young people stagger under a student debt load of $1.5 trillion, and “deaths of despair” claim 150,000 U.S. lives every year. Where but in the U.S. police state is suicide the second leading cause of death among children (ages 10-18)? What happens to today’s middle-aged Americans, 25% of whom have no retirement savings, when the government makes good on its threat to cut social security. The paradox is inescapable— the richest country in the history of the world yet its citizens have run up a collective debt of $13.5 trillion, 80% of U.S. households live paycheck to paycheck, 20% can’t pay their monthly bills and the U.S. booming economy has left 54% of Americans feeling no appreciable upswing in their personal financial situation. When the drive to colonize the world is the major objective, what happens to the people? We try to answer that question in “The Fruits of Empire: The American People at the End of their Ropes”
