In the US and other developed countries we have cheap goods and raw materials thanks to the exploitation of people overseas and South of the border working in unsafe conditions for starvation wages. We have endlessly used our military to control regions of the world where we insert politicians who sell out their own people to serve “us” and create opportunities for western countries to buy resources well below their worth. Almost everything we have was taken from someone who was forced to give their resources or their labor for a pittance.
At the same time, costs of living are so unaffordable in the US, and wages are so low, that we also have created a system of wage slavery. The US has the largest number of prisoners per capita, and the largest number of prisoners total of any country. We are kept in check with the threat of homelessness if we don't participate in the system and prison if we resist.
Politicians and business owners are in denial if they think this can go on forever. Does anyone else feel the collective stress when they are out on the street, in a store, or at a concert? Everyone is out pretending that things are normal, but we are all sending off signals which we can pick up on unconsciously. I feel it in my body- like I am witnessing the slow fall of an empire.
If we cannot change, if we cannot thrive independently and sustainably as a country, we deserve whatever reckoning is coming- we are all complicit by our innaction as a society. Be aware of what you consume; try not to contribute to net suffering in the world. And let's all agree that justice must be served, by the people if not the courts- we must hold those in power accountable.