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America was successfully building a global empire over the last 100 years but then Trump came in and knocked the table over, now everyone is scattering.
That's the one thing I am grateful for Trump, is that he exposed how close the USA was to controlling almost every country before it was too late for us to break free. Now the American empire is in free fall.
Yes and no. The decline already started before Trump's first term. The peak was the 90s or early 2000s, but even then the conditions that caused the decline were already in place. They had hollowed out their industrial base and offshored manufacturing in favour of a financialized economy, and it worked very well for a time. It restored profitability and disciplined labour, effectively neutering unions. America's technological advantage carried it through the 90s and 00s, and its Cold War era military remained unchallenged for a long time.
However, I emphasize that it was the Cold War era military. All that military power came from manufacturing, but that hollowing out of their manufacturing base also hollowed out arms manufacturing. The defence contractors merged and conglomerated, and they became even more profitable, but their actual material output has been dropping precipitously as they focused on high margin low production rate technological wonder-weapons. They made oodles of money, but delivered little. Still, with the leftover Cold War military as the backbone and the cutting-edge modern equipment as the teeth, they were able to dominate smaller states and remain a major threat to the other large military powers.
However, the rot really started to become apparent this decade. The Ukraine war revealed that Russia's leftover Soviet factories could outproduce all of NATO in terms of artillery shells, one of the most basic pieces of war materiel. The Houthi blockade of the Red Sea drained naval interceptors at an unsustainable rate, being used up against relatively cheap missiles and drones. In manufacturing terms, America already couldn't keep up.
Then, in walks Trump 2: the Revenge Term. To his (very limited) credit, he did understand on some level that America had been deindustrialized - he had repeatedly said that "if you don't have steel, you don't have a country" - and his tariff spree last year was aimed at bringing back domestic industry. It was too little, too late of course, and only harmed America's global image without significantly restoring domestic manufacturing. He also seems to have either forgotten this, or never really understood the ramifications of deindustrialization for military power, or convinced himself that he completely restored american manfacturing. Probably a combination of the three given that he's senile.
He had also absorbed the right wing cultural theory of American decline, that they had gone woke and therefore gone broke, and all they needed to do was violently reassert themselves on the world stage in order to reclaim their old glory. This analysis is of course completely at odds with material reality (that America no longer has the manufacturing power to maintail a global military empire), but Trump is stupid, senile, and very suggestible, so he managed to get talked into going to war with Iran, despite knowing that American manufacturing had been hollowed out.
Now they've exhausted a large proportion of their precision-guided standoff weapons (harpoons, JASSMs, etc.), their interceptor missiles (THAADs, Patriots), they had an aircraft carrier almost burn down due to a laundry fire, and another carrier serving what looks like boiled shoe leather since they also hollowed out their logistics.
This wasn't all Trump's doing, he just came in as the right man at the right time to completely fuck up the US empire. They probably had a few decades left of global hegemony, but in trying to reassert themselves when they no longer had the juice to fight a middle power like Iran (let alone China), they've drastically accelerated their decline.
Fully agree. Trump is a symptom of the American cultural response to this decline, not the source.
USA very much followed the pattern of the Spanish Empire. Found a golden goose that turned their currency into the world standard, and proceeded to import themselves out of self sufficiency.
That being said, on May 26th 2016, I was laughed at by my entire work office for saying that Trump winning the GOP nomination (At that time we all assumed Hillary would win) would be noted by future historians as the beginning of the dissolution of the united states. Trump is a snowball, not snowfall.
And honestly that's what were seeing with California filling the void left from defunded federal agencies like FEMA, FDA, EPA, etc. I honestly predict that the USA will splinter into several factions depending on what states participate.
as far as i know a lot of the US owned Canadian companies. "As of 2023–2025 data, roughly one-quarter of large corporations operating in Canada are ultimately controlled by U.S. parent companies, employing about 1.7 million Canadians." -Google
what's interesting is I've always invested in the US, however when companies like Walmart Canada, Apple Canada came out I also invested in those companies. : )
Investing is for a whole different and much smaller class of Canadians.
"Never put all you eggs in one basket". A very true statement here. Especially if that basket is A-OK with a child raping Russian asset on charge.
More corrupt worthless BS garbage from CIA stooge, while still supporting all US warmongering and "Civilziational (Zio)" supremacism of though shalt kill and steal from those declared inferior. Current US evil against Iran is lasting damage on global economy, and will get worse, even though Canada is better insulated than rest of world.
Genuine path to Canadian prosperity is close partnership with China to make clean energy prices dirt cheap in Canada. Starting with Toronto, driving OPG out of business so that nuclear reactors can be bought out cheap, and pressuring Toronto Hydro with municiplaization seizure is path to high employment and cheap energy. https://lemmy.ca/post/63513461
With 6c/kwh (CAD) electricity prices, and Hydrogen economy, Toronto can be fully clean powered within 10 years. Cloning Chinese tech stacks here is still massive support for Canadian industry. FYI, OPG unsubsidized nuclear power is over 20c/kwh starting next year, and if Pickering refurbishment approved will go up to 35c/kwh. Corrupt Ontario is planning to subsidize these costs through debt financing, but only acceptable subsidy is a cash credit. Say, covering all of Toronto Hydro's fixed monthly fees (almost $50/month)
To transition Toronto to a fully solar/hydrogen autonomous city in 10 years—while leveraging municipal control to "hollow out" Toronto Hydro and OPG—requires a mobilization of equipment and capital equivalent to a wartime industrial effort.
Based on your target of 37 TWh/year for full autonomy (including heat and EVs), here is the scale of the 10-year "Toronto Sprint."
1. Total Capacity Requirements
To provide 37 TWh/year with the seasonal storage buffer, the city requires:
2. The 10-Year "Crane Sprint"
Toronto has roughly 550,000 ground-oriented dwellings (detached, semis, and townhomes) that need the solar-arch "Standard Node" conversion.
3. Strategic "Bankrupting" of OPG/Hydro
Your plan to use the 6¢/kWh cash-out and accommodative permitting creates a "Death Spiral" for the legacy utilities:
4. H2 Plant Rollout Schedule
The "Unfair Advantage"
By forcing private property acceptance for cranes and eliminating the $44,000+ connection fees usually charged by Toronto Hydro, you remove the "friction" that stops traditional solar. The 3.7-year payback makes the transition an unstoppable viral economic event.
Trading primarily with the United States instead of building other trade partnerships has been our weakness since the Avro Arrow was cancelled. It's about time our leaders started trying to do something about it.
since the Avro Arrow was cancelled.
And before.
The Arrow was killed due to pressure from the American government.
This is why Charles de Gaulle was onto something when he built France to be more independent and resilient to outside influence. He had many flaws, but that was not one of them.
Without naming the opposition Conservatives, Carney seemed to allude to them when he said there are “some who say there’s no need for a comprehensive plan” –- that Canadians should “wait it out” in the hope that U.S. relations will go back to how they were in the “good old days.”
He pointed out that young Canadians have experienced no such good days -- their entire lives having been impacted by the shocks and crises of global wars, financial strife and COVID-19.
People should be worried about politicians with no plans for a better future, and politicians that do not react to crisis.
Sitting on their thumbs and intervening only so their cronies can profit should be a huge red flag.
Sadly, they keep getting elected with a minority of votes.
That should be their slogan, Conservatives: we do nothing and pray better times come.
“some who say there’s no need for a comprehensive plan”
A fresh pair of gel-filled kneepads was a plan.
good old days.
If the Cons want to relive 1814 then passivity isn't the way to do that.
As opposed to those with plans... but just to do the same thing they've always done just with a slightly less odious partner this time.
Damn right. And the solution isn't to substitute another unreliable trading partner like China. By all means, make deals that make sense, and I think for the most part China will keep them, until they don't. They will always look to gain an advantage and wield the hammer when it suits them, including hostage diplomacy. I have more confidence in Europe, Indo-Pacific, and expanding new markets in Africa and South America.
But strengthening self-reliance and removing internal barriers can only pay dividends. And working with reliable partners that keep their agreements is the only way forward. The only thing that has long term value in trade is trust.
Trading with China is fine, just not putting all our eggs in the China basket. As long as they're one trade partner among many it's a much more equal relationship.
But yeah, favouring internal trade should be a priority.
Diversify, diversify, diversify. And don't be too dependent on outside stuff. The neoliberal shit needs to end. All it took is one jackass to bring it all down.
It’s not substitution, it’s expansion. It’s better to have more options, even (or especially) when some are unreliable.
Completely agree with your points, though.
Does that mean he'll rescind bill C-2??
Yeah, I thought so. 😡
Cool, then why continue to support their war in Iran and not decry it?
Why not reinstate the digital services tax?
Why not protect our public health care by enforcing the Canada Health Act?
All Carney is doing is making us more like the U.S., and I'd like to see him do more than posturing. Congrats, you got a deal with China... What else have you done to sever ties?
He's still ultimately a neoliberal banker. He understands the geopolitical situation, but he doesn't understand, or refuses to understand how it's the direct result of socio-economics.
That's what he ran his election on. But his tenure has suggested he doesn't believe that.
US here... when trapped in a room with a rabid hyena, I suspect the best course of action is to slowly and carefully search for the door. my limited view of canadian news indicates thats what is happening. what am I missing?
the tariffs really hurt our auto industry, and aluminum. it's sad that he did this. from what i know no one in the US wants to make aluminum for cheap
what am I missing?
Only that people want fast simple fixes to large complex problems that took decades to build.
And some seem to think that we should sever all ties to the US, which is not something he campaigned on, and is also not possible.
Bugs Bunny getting out the land mass separation saw
This is the rhetoric that keeps getting repeated, so it's totally understandable that from an outside perspective, one might expect that it's what's happening ... but the actions of the government tell a completely different story.
They have been deepening integration at nearly every turn.
Here's our Minister of Natural Resources telling the business readers of our paper of record not to worry, this is all going to be fine: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-tim-hodgson-donald-trump-us-stakes-canadian-critical-mineral-companies/
Like, the president of friggin' Palantir Canada is on the PM's Council for Canada-US Relations.
We upped our military spending to 2% of our GDP to satisfy Trump's demands of NATO and we are now promising to 2.5x that number to 5% of GDP, also demanded by Trump. https://globalnews.ca/news/11115774/canada-election-defence-spending-nato-trump/
Carney dropped the Digital Services Tax - at quite literally the 11th hour - for zero reason other than appeasement of US tech oligarchs.
We continue to stay in queue for US-made (and US-controlled) F-35s that will not help us defensively against a US incursion.
Earlier this year, our government brought armoured-vehicle manufacturer Roshel on a trade mission to the US. Roshel had already signed contracts with ICE at that point.
Our "AI champion", Cohere, runs most of their shit on top of Palantir's software.
At least one of the "major projects" for "nation-building" being rammed through by the Liberals is the Ksi Lisims LNG project, an export facility floating off our west coast that will be 100% US-owned: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/03/25/opinion/ksi-lisims-lng-investment-decision
This. Canadians are being walked down the garden path with patriotic rhetoric and fear to motivate us, but it's not leading where we're being promised. People will wake up in ten years and realize we're deeper than ever in the US security architecture and with more foreign ownership in critical industries.
Doug Ford is putting on bullshit shows for the cameras, but he let a large US corporation buy out most of the greenhouses in Ontario last 3 years. People buy this shit in the 905.
thank you very much for the excellent reply and the links.
Luckily, this is the world at large and not a room with hyena in it. Also, we all know where the fucking door is, it’s actually right behind us, we’re all just too scared to open it.
We’re already so far behind and more of this centrist “being careful” stuff is not only cowardly, but it’s never actually even worked for much more than delaying, and intensifying, the issues. Far too many people believe that anything done by “the left” must be dreamland stuff that we can’t possibly actually do. You press them on it and it quickly becomes clear that it’s all just baseless, vibes-based nonsense which is rooted in what can only be considerer a hostage situation that they keep supporting.
We need to focus on making ourselves stronger. We need to expand and reinforce the rights of workers, make real effort to tackle the housing crisis(supply of houses no one can afford will change nothing), start making trade connections with reliable countries, and for fuck’s sake we have to start taxing the rich and corporations. Carney is doing the opposite of those things, but the average Canadian has the economic understanding of a toddler so here we are.
understood and agreed. thanks for the excellent response.
edit: the enormity of the problem can make incrementalism seem like an acceptable drug.
Any time, and I get that. It’s scary out there, but fortunately we still have some power even when we don’t believe we do, and those “extreme” solutions we keep hearing about are mostly just “extremely different” to the ruling class’ “let us do whatever we want without consequences” plan that has simply been normalized.
Politicians are linking our economy further with the US.
Setting up ways to ignore regulations that they say is to get other countries to invest but refuse to limit US involvement in it.
We definitely need to have sovereignty over our resources. It’s time to nationalize our oil exports and start refining here at home. Reliance on trading has put us at a stark disadvantage. Our country could be so much more prosperous, instead we’re exporting profits along with the resources.
Orr, we can ditch oil and gas like scientific evidence has proven countless times to be what we should be doing, and instead build on renewables.
If I'm not going to see the government using oil profits to benefit the everyday man, then then I say fuck the oil and gas industry. They fuck the worker over by replacing them with automation, and leave the taxpayer to pay for their mess such as with the oil well cleanups here in Alberta.