Two References to the US as a Possible "Failed State" in 24 Hours

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, within the last 24 hours, I've seen two--count them, two--different references to the US either being or questioning whether we are just that, a failed state. Here's the first one I saw yesterday from the website AlterNet.

The US is in free fall — 

and at risk of becoming a failed state

And here is the 2nd reference I've seen to this within 24 hours and my you, I'm not searching this out.

Tomgram: Rebecca Gordon, 

The Sudden Descent of the United States

And truth be told, the 2nd article at TomDispatch is an expansion on the first article which was  written by Rebecca Gordon. Still, it expands on the idea, question and theme. I thought this part important.

"What Is a Failed State?

People use this expression to indicate a political entity whose government has ceased to perform most or all of its basic functions. Such a condition can result from civil war, untrammeled corruption, natural disaster, or some combination of those and more. The Fund for Peace, which has been working on such issues for more than 70 years, lists four criteria to identify such a country:

--Loss of control of its territory, or of the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force therein
--Erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions
--Inability to provide public services
--Inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community'”

3 out of four, presently? Or all four, already?

The fact is, we, the United States, 

--have more cases of and deaths from this killing international coronavirus pandemic than any other nation

--have a President that has completely, totally ignored a bounty put on American soldiers in the field in Afghanistan by Russia to the Taliban to kill American soldiers

Trump decries Russian bounty reports as ‘fake news’ as his national security adviser says response options were prepared

--have a President that is going forward with his plan to take 9500 American troops out of Gernany shortly

--have no universal health care---the "richest nation in the world", or so we tell ourselves

--have millions of Americans out of work due to the pandemic and so, with no health care whatever

--have amassed a huge national debt--partly due to gross overspending on military which actually weakens us but also due to tax giveaways by the Republicans to the already-wealthy and corporations and then, again, this pandemic and

--have a President who has pulled us out of nearly all, if not all international cooperation agreements like the World Heatlh Organization, etc.

Oh and this broke this morning.

The Trump administration just lent $700 million to a trucking company only worth $70 million

And that's just a short list, a very short list of some of our worst current predicaments.

Meanwhile, a Senator is working to have us buy Russian made weapons, unbelievable.

GOP Senator Seeks Amendment Allowing the U.S. to Buy Russian Defense System

The U.S. could be permitted to purchase the Russian S-400 missile defense system from Turkey under a Senate amendment proposed last week.

Under the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 proposed by Senate Majority Whip John Thune, the U.S. Army would be able to purchase the S-400 missile defense system from Turkey, provided the country certified that money from the purchase would not be used to buy equipment deemed "incompatible" with the NATO alliance.

We're the largest manufacturer and seller of weapons in the world---and we need to buy yet more, these Russian and from Turkey?  Really?

And then finally today, this.

Senate strips provision from intelligence bill requiring campaigns to report foreign election help

(CNN)  The Senate will incorporate the annual intelligence policy legislation into the National Defense Authorization Act -- but only after stripping language from the intelligence bill that would have required presidential campaigns to report offers of foreign election help.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday that Senate Republicans forced the removal of the election reporting provision as a condition to include the intelligence bill on the must-pass defense policy legislation.

So our government officials CAN, if this passes, not only accept money from foreigners or from foreign nations, which by itself would be bad enough, but they would also NOT HAVE TO REPORT IT.

Isn't that terrific?

Thanks, Republicans!

Failed state?  Failing state?

How much farther down are we going to let or have this President and his political party drag us, America?

The American Empire

America:  The World's Warmonger

Happy Thanksgiving

Click on picture for larger viewing---and ability to read. Link: http://www.lettherebefacebook.com/previews/preview9.html

United States of America: 4th highest poverty rate in the world

You read it right. The United States of America, 4th most poverty-ridden population IN THE WORLD. I never thought I'd see that but it's from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and on The Huffington Post today: #4 Highest Poverty Rate in OECD: US The United States has a GDP per capita (price purchase parity) of around $47,000 and a population of over 300 million. The United States has the largest economy of any country in the world-- about the same size as the second (China) and third (Japan) largest national economies combined when measured using price purchase parity. It is rated as having a very high degree of development by the Human Development Index. The good news? We're not as bad as Turkey. The bad news? We're down here with Mexico (No.1), Israel (2) and Chile (3). So much for winning the "Cold War", huh? Yikes. This is so not where I think we all thought we were, is it? Links: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-steven-friedman/5-oecd-countries-with-the_b_877368.html#s290783&title=4_Highest_Poverty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_for_Economic_Co-operation_and_Development

The Russians sound like the bright ones here

Russia, a major poultry importer, banned all chlorine-treated poultry imports starting Jan. 1, outlawing the 600,000 tons of poultry allowed from the U.S. under revised quotas. So we--the US--are upset because Russians don't want our "chlorine-treated poultry"? Like I said, it sounds like they're the smart ones. Link to original post: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37892671/