People depend on government to help them in times of need. This has always been so. In ancient times the rulers of countries controlled the granaries. Grain was stored in times of plenty and distributed in times of scarcity. This, even more than the maintenance of armies for national defense caused people to tolerate even repressive rule. For much of its history, Roman government provided food to a citizenry no longer able to grow it themselves. They got this grain through purchase or expropriation from other parts of the empire.
Our government does not store grain. It does not hold stores of wealth with which to buy grain. There is no empire. Government does not have the coercive power to force others to give us grain. Or fuel. Or clothing. Or anything else. Our government can print money. As long as the rest of the World will accept the money it prints, everything will be hunky dory.
How long do you think that will be? Printing and spending a trillion dollars in stimulus insures that it won't be very long.
Zimbabwe prints money. Its value decreases by 98% every day. The people are starving. They are dying of cholera. They are leaving the country in droves.
America does have an impressive military capacity. If you look at what happens historically during times like this, in countries like ours, there is one constant besides the suffering of the populace. Wars of conquest.
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