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September 2026: The world today, as seen by one Polish guy

522 points · 391 comments · marjancek

  1. harrouet · · focus · HN ↗
    This how empires collapse:

    - To maintain fellowship, the empire spreads money to buy influence

    - eventually this starts to cost too much, so the empire reduces spending

    - wars ensue and independent voices emerge

    - unable to establish order, the empire loses its influence and collapses

    You can see this patterns as the US is overspending (high debt / trade deficit) while reducing its diplomatic influence on international programs. Not sure how they can save the USD value over time.

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