Let’s play a little hypothetical game, shall we?
Just for a few minutes. Only to briefly ponder a point I am sure we all have considered at least in some fashion at one time or another. All in an effort to wrap our hands around an issue that is sure to become increasingly important…
And, in fact, may one day in the not-to-distant future actually be determinant of pretty much every move we make.
You ready?
Okay, let’s say that, for some reason, you decide to tap into your neighbor’s plumbing for your water and sewer. And then, thoroughly pleased with outcome, you go ahead and access his electricity as well.
You with me so far?
Now, you have met all of your basic utility needs. At your neighbor’s expense. And not only that, but he knows it – and just doesn’t seem to really get all that upset.
Happy days are here again!
In fact, everything goes so well that you continue to live off of your neighbor, not just for years, but for decades on end. And the arrangement is so hunky-dory that you decide to let him supply your grocery needs, too. And you even have him pony up your furniture, lawn equipment, and oh, what the heck? your car, as well.
Why not?
After all, one good deed deserves another. Especially when old Good Neighbor Sam is the one doing all the deeds!
So, why should you tax yourself, when he (and all of your other neighbors, as well, for that matter) can do all of the heavy lifting for you. And just deliver all of your daily wants and need directly to your door?
Why get your hands dirty when they can do all the drudge work, while you sit around in the lap of luxury.
Nice work is you can get it, isn’t it — if you’re the one who doesn’t have to do it.
Then one day, for some strange reason, largely contrived and of your own making, you decide you’re just not happy with said neighbors anymore. Maybe the whole sorry bunch of them have had the audacity to get upset when your dog soils their lawns. Or, they don’t share your religious (or, for that matter, pagan) beliefs. Or, perhaps, the cretins kinda talk funny. And, well, for whatever reason, you just don’t ‘em like anymore.
And that’s that.
So, you decide to declare war on Ol’ Sam, Bill, Joy, Jill, and all of the rest of your next-door neighbors. Ruthless, rapacious war. You disrupt their households. You steal their personal belongings. You raid (or freeze) their bank accounts. And you even try to assassinate them (you euphemistically call it “regime change”) – repeatedly.
That’ll teach’em, won’t it?
Well, let me ask you a question: Do you think Sam and the other folks at some point, might just go ahead and openly retaliate by cutting off your water and electricity… taking back the lawn furniture… and abruptly halting the delivery of your groceries?
To say the least?
And, who knows, all of these folks you have now turned on after exploiting for years on end might even bond together to go on the attack and commit overt acts of open rebellion against you, mightn’t they?
Yeah, I think you can pretty much count on it. You showed old Sam, et.al., that no good deed goes unpunished. And now, all of the outraged folks in the ‘hood about are about to show you that bad deeds don’t either.
Okay, that’s the hypothetical scenario. And now let’s bring it all home, shall we?
Let’s reify. Let’s get down to cases. Let’s go from hypothetical to hyper likely, and, unfortunately, not at all hyperbolic.
First off, let’s acknowledge the fact that the United States has, for the past several decades on end (some would say, even a century or more), systematically dismantled and off-shored its own manufacturing base. And in the past three years, we have deliberately gutted our energy industry as well.
In short, we have destroyed our own independence – just as did our laidback (or, shall we say, lazy) homeowner above.
After all, why should we get our hands dirty when we can leave the heavy lifting to the lesser peoples around the world while we sit back and lap up the luxuries?
That means, we now depend upon foreign countries – our Good Neighbor Sams near and far, as well – to supply everything from our most basic needs to our most esoteric wants.
Want proof?
Well, go to your nearest Walmart, and you will find the shelves lined with products that bear the inscription, “Made in China.”
Open your computer or smartphone, and you will see chips that are made in Taiwan – which, very likely, in the not far-off future, will also be part of China.
Our oil comes primarily from Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and other Gulf States – all of which are increasingly aligning themselves with China and Russia.
Our steel comes predominantly from China and Mexico.
Our mineral assets – like uranium and lithium, for example – come largely from the African nations, which are increasingly and adamantly fed up with our exploitation.
And, much of our produce is coming from Central and South America (another bunch of folks tired of our using their countries to run drugs, and back thugs).
Now, do you notice something very, very important that all of those nations – nations upon which we are now almost totally dependent – have in common?
Well, for those who may have missed the point, allow me to spell it out for you:
They are all nations against which, for some strange, largely contrived, reason, the United States has decided to continually, in one way or another, militarily or economically, wage war (just like the nasty homeowner we referenced above)…
And each of those nations, therefore – like the next-door neighbors we discussed at the outset – is increasingly and quite adamantly determined to openly retaliate by ceasing to supply our manufactured goods (or by raising the prices sky high)… cutting oil production (or quadrupling the cost)… cease chipping in the chips… and stop delivering the groceries at anything near reasonable prices.
To say the least.
Make sense, doesn’t it? In fact, you’ve already begun seeing it for yourself, haven’t you?
Which – if the current nasty homeowner administration doesn’t stop rattling sabers and rabble rousing to pad the pockets of the military-industrial complex — is, sooner rather than later, going to leave the United States with empty warehouses, bone-dry gas pumps, blank computer screens, silent cell phones, and empty grocery shelves.
After all, even the best of neighbors eventually get tired of being abused, don’t they?
Now, lest all of that sound a bit farfetched or somewhat whimsical, allow me to leave you with one single acronym that will bring a quick end to any such idle musing. It also should (though it won’t) be sending shockwaves throughout the ranks of the upper-echelon, warmongering, political elite in this country…
And it should have you, dear reader, at least consider looking to diversify your portfolio offshore.
You ready?
Well, here it is – all summed up in five little letters that spell out what could well signal an impending economic Armageddon:
BRICS.
As in, neighboring countries throughout the world that are fed up to the gills with America’s hegemonous economic and military aggression and oppression (including, yes, deadly – and often disastrous” “regime change”)…
As in Asian, Mid-Eastern, and African countries that have now bonded together to go on the attack and commit overt acts of open rebellion…
As in, on the obverse, one certain country (e.g., the US) that now finds itself increasingly living in a BRICS house and should, therefore, cease jutting out its glass jaw (as Donald Trump did, and Toxic Joe Biden won’t).
As in, it’s time for a wholly dependent US to stop waging ruthless, rapacious wars on Good Old Sam and the rest of our worldwide next-door neighbors —
And get the clearcut, unmistakable and irrefutable BRICS message that the next regime the US decides to change had better be our own…
Or else the whole BRICs house is about to fall in on our heads.
And that, my friends, is not merely hypothetical. Or hyperbolic.
Though it is, unfortunately, hyper likely.
