[new-nickname-zanovo]

Well, I'm glad someone else sees it that way..

This empire business is going to break us if we keep it up. And even if it didn't, it's immoral.

I just can't support it.

And for what? Momentary leverage, that could well change drastically within the next decade. There's nothing of any lasting substance to be gained here. Even your enemies secretly welcome your over-extending yourself this way. All the while, China sits back and waits to reap the very advantage you were looking for. And whilst never having to lift a finger in the meantime, to acquire it. When the US finally exhausts itself, China gains the upper hand by default. As an added bonus, the same reasons that made outsourcing so attractive to US firms, are compounded, as China becomes ever more enticing, and conditions at home become increasingly hostile to domestic investment. It all adds up to America's eventual reputation as a corporate pariah.

There's no upshot here.

Were I the conspinkey type, I could almost believe the WOT was a plot to undermine the US forever, via aggressive economic strategy. To make it fight itself, by fighting an enemy with limitless resources.

For America to win the war, only to discover you'd already been defeated, by going to war at all.