Category: Empire and Decline

The Replacement Is Already Here: What the Petrodollar’s Successor Means for Every American

China and BRICS payment systems are already processing billions outside the dollar, weakening the financial privilege Americans took for granted.

The Surveillance State Has No Friends, Only Targets

A reported CIA referral against Tucker Carlson illustrates how intelligence agencies recast contact with foreign officials as criminal dissent.

The Glasshouse Empire War, Debt, and the Petrodollar’s Last Stand

Debt, oil above one hundred dollars and frozen shipping lanes are testing dollar privilege as governments seek alternatives to Washington.

Entering Losing Wars We Can’t Fund: Congress and Trump Do What They’re Told, How High and Which Way, Sirs?

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly described sanctions intended to collapse Iran’s economy, exposing the economic campaign behind the bombs.

The Trump Protection Racket: How a Declining US Empire Extorts Friends and Enemies Alike

Washington demanded $350 billion from South Korea and $550 billion from Japan, showing how tariffs and alliances now function as extraction.

Tariffs, Chips, and the Sovereign Debt Time Bomb: How America Is Engineering Its Own Decline

This article began as a letter to a friend and fellow analyst. As the evidence accumulated, it outgrew the envelope.

The Merger of the National Security State and Predatory Capital

How networked technology closed the private gaps in American life, how a rentier class captured the government, and why American world power is ending anyway.

How the Tech Billionaires’ Cold War on China and Iran Is Consuming the American Empire

Palantir, Pax Silica and Silicon Valley allies use U.S. power against China and Iran to protect monopolies while America loses its industrial base.

The Perpetual Market: How Ukraine, Iran, and Taiwan Became Line Items on a Cash‑Flow Statement

Arms makers treat Ukraine as recurring revenue, with Iran and Taiwan next in line. Sanctions and trade controls prepare the market for escalation.

Part 2: The Rentier’s Republic of America

America forgot the difference between earning and extracting , but the economist, Michael Hudson, kept the receipts