• I think it was Ben Norton that the US wants to find a reason to get away with banning all Chinese imports… but their capitalism is holding them back as “just pay more to make it at home” or “deal with the consequences of an embargo” is not an option for the fragile American economy.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
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      8 months ago

      Exactly, we’re kind of in a unique situation here as far as I can tell. Never before have we had a global empire that managed to deindustrialize its core to such an extent. US now recognizes the problem, but they have no idea how to tackle it.

      • I’m glad that the head of capitalism is bleeding itself out, but its truly bizarre the decisions that they made. They should’ve hugged Russia and built them up like Japan after the collapse and they would’ve had a stalwart ally in the region with a shitton of oil and natural gas. And they really did drink the Kool-Aid that the PRC would inevitably become liberal if the economy kept growing.

        I truly believe that the elites ACTUALLY believe the propaganda is poisoning the American Empire.

        • Sodium_nitride@lemmygrad.ml
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          8 months ago

          Of course the elites believe in their own propaganda. They actually consume more of it than the poor. They are more likely to get polsci degrees, “higher quality” education in history. They can watch more movies, read more news.

          Propaganda exists to teach not just the subjects how to be good citizens, but also the elites as to how to manage and persuade class society.

      • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        The United States is in a unique situation for those reasons and many more (the refinement of domestic anti-left programs comes to mind). We have plenty to learn from past leftist movements, but it gets frustrating when people try to map contemporary politics 1:1 onto the players of Weimar Germany, formation of the USSR, the Spanish Civil War, etc.

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
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          8 months ago

          Indeed, this is a trap I see a lot of people fall into as well where they just look for historic precedent without spending the time to understand how it differs from the current conditions. Genuine understanding requires what the actual forces driving the events are in each scenario.