It is better to be an outcast, a stranger in one’s own country, than an outcast from one’s self. It is better to see what is about to befall us and to resist than to retreat into the fantasies embraced by a nation of the blind.
Chris Hedges

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Moral Hazard

As US trade and debt deficits mount the day will come when the only thing left to trade will be geo-political allies isolated in cash-rich parts of the world. China owns an increasingly large amount of American consumer debt. Can the day be far away when they forgive that debt for a free shot at getting back Taiwan? If it were to happen, then how much would it be worth middle America to stop aid and arms shipments to Israel in return for Middle East wealth? If oil is indeed the reason for war these days, it makes more sense for the US to carry the fight to Central and South America.
Abandoning the Middle Eastern oil markets will eliminate the need for ever sending troops there and surely a war in the Americas would be cheaper to run. The supply lines would be shorter and there are enough hispanic Americans to make communicating with people easier. Surely there would be a hue and cry from Jewish Americans, especially in Florida, but this is easily offset by engaging Cuba in battle and repatriating those lands for the massive Cubano population in the Sunshine State. With peak-oil past the threshhold, especially in the Arabian Penninsula where oil fields are fast approaching the used by date, the time to cut and run seems ripe.

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