
America: A Failing State - howard941
https://www.ianwelsh.net/america-a-failing-state/
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Talyen42
A lot of BS in this post: "People who are happy and have hope for the future
rarely become drug addicts."

Completely ignorant of the context and causes of opioid addiction and
overdose.

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bediger4000
> Completely ignorant of the context and causes of opioid addiction and
> overdose.

I think you're focusing on only a small part of the theme of the article, and
even that small part is arguable.

The author has some decent points. The USA has spent an astronomical amount of
money on wars that are certainly "unwinnable" in the sense that anything could
get Iraq and Afghanistan into good shape. Further the ostensible purpose of
the wars (Fight Terrorism) almost certainly didn't justify the wars, and the
wars predictably didn't decrease terrorism. The "Fight Terrorism" aspect has
been used by factions in the government to do things (dragnet surveillance)
that won't contribute to anything good in the medium-to-long term.

The US DoD has a purchasing problem. This has been obvious over the last 35-40
years, really. The author cites the F-35, but he could have cited the complex
F-22 debacle, the Littoral Combat Ship debacle, inability to replace the A-10,
the A-12 debacle of the late 80s, and many, many others. This is not arguable.
Further, the DoD's financial structure is so complex that it can't be audited.
Realistically, nobody knows what happens to 54% of the US government's
discretionary spending.

Inarguably, the author is correct about Trump.

These are worrying symptoms. Picking on the most arguable part of the article
does allow us to ignore the article's points, but the problems exist whether
we ignore them or not.

