We’re not watching a dramatic fall of America. There are no breaking news alerts about the end. No explosions in the streets. No economic sirens.
But make no mistake….something terrible is happening.
Piece by piece, decision by decision, we are being sold out. Our labor, our taxes, our future, it is all being extracted. And while it happens, we are told to look the other way while letting AI take many of our jobs.
Watch the game. Scroll the feed. Place a bet. Argue online about culture wars that do not affect your rent, your hospital bill, or your ability to afford groceries.
Meanwhile, the money keeps flowing. Out of your paycheck. Out of your neighborhood. Out of this country. Straight into the hands of foreign governments, defense contractors, and elite interests.
This is not the dramatic fall of a nation. It is a transfer of wealth, security, and stability away from ordinary Americans and toward a system that was never built to serve us. It is a system that acts globally, extracts locally, and survives only as long as we do not look directly at it.
You can call it a government. You can call it a machine. But what it really functions as is an empire. And the longer we ignore it, the more it takes.
The Cost of That Empire Is Being Paid in Evictions and Empty Refrigerators
While your tax dollars are used to fund missile systems in Israel, people across the United States are struggling just to keep a roof over their heads. Since 2020, the median price of a home has risen by more than 40 percent. Interest rates have climbed above 7 percent, making homeownership unreachable for millions (National Association of Realtors, 2024).
At the same time, Americans like myself, carry over $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. Medical bankruptcies remain the most common form of personal financial ruin. A premature baby that has to stay in a neonatal intensive care unit for over a month can cost well over a million dollars. On top of that, more than half of the country cannot afford an unexpected five hundred dollar emergency.
And yet, every year, tens of billions of dollars are approved for foreign aid without hesitation.
Israel receives more U.S. taxpayer money than any other nation on Earth. Since 1948, it has received over 300 billion dollars in aid, including nearly 4 billion annually in guaranteed military funding (Congressional Research Service, 2023).
That money has helped fund a public healthcare system, subsidized childcare, and modern infrastructure. Israel’s students have new schools. Their citizens have access to doctors without going bankrupt.
Meanwhile, in American cities, teachers work second jobs. Classrooms go without books. People drive across state lines to afford prescriptions. And in cities like Flint, Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi, families still live without safe drinking water.
This is not about scarcity. It is about priorities.
An Economy Built to Keep Us Consuming
We are told that the economy is doing well. But it only looks strong on paper because we are constantly spending to survive.
Wages have remained flat for decades, while the cost of everything else has gone up. Food, gas, housing, tuition, and insurance have all exploded. But instead of fixing the system, the solution we are offered is more debt.
–Buy now, pay later.
–Zero percent financing.
–Monthly subscriptions for everything, even the essentials.
Our economy runs on credit cards and desperation.
We are not building wealth. We are surviving one paycheck at a time, and no one is willing to admit it.
And when that stress becomes too much, we are handed another solution, a distraction. Sometimes it’s a RICO case of a famous celebrity, other times it’s the United States bombing an empty nuclear facility in Iran, and other times it’s something as simple as sports and sports betting.
There is always something to pull our focus. Sports betting is now a multi-billion dollar industry thanks to ESPN, Draft Kings, Prize Picks, and MGM Sports betting. On television, sex-laden reality shows dominate prime time and paid subscriptions. Viral celebrity drama trends daily. Meanwhile, airstrikes in Gaza or explosions in Tehran are buried beneath all this noise but we pay for all of it.
None of this is random. It is a carefully designed system.
We Fund a Better Life for Others While We Are Told to Settle for Less
The average American is constantly being told to sacrifice.
Tighten your belt.
Use credit.
Be patient.
Inflation is temporary.
Work harder.
But there is no austerity when it comes to military aid.
There is always money for war. There is always money for foreign governments. There is always money to rebuild somewhere else in a land most have never been, but there is nothing for Maui, East Palestine, Flint, New Orleans, and many other cities in America.
Since 1948, Israel has received over 300 billion dollars in U.S. assistance (Reuters, 2024). That money has helped create one of the best publicly funded healthcare and education systems in the world—for a country with fewer people than New York City.
In America, we have veterans sleeping on the street in every major city.
We have kids learning from worksheets because their school cannot afford books.
We have families rationing insulin and choosing between medication and rent.
This is not just a funding issue. It is a values issue.
We are paying for the stability of others while our own communities are crumbling.
They Keep Us Distracted So We Do Not See It
Every time the conversation gets too close to real issues, the distractions flood in.
The headlines suddenly shift, and Operation Mockingbird goes full tilt. The scandals erupt more salacious than the prior one. The outrage machine gets turns on, and Americans are pinned against each other.
We are told to obsess over celebrities, argue over culture wars, and follow political soap operas like they are sports teams.
This is not a coincidence. It is the only way this corrupt system survives.
Because if we stop fighting each other, we might start asking the real questions.
Where is the money going?
Why can’t we afford basic services while funding foreign militaries?
Why is our economy built on debt and distraction?
And who exactly is benefiting from all of this since it’s not US?
This Is Not Incompetence. It Is a Strategy.
The truth is that the United States has all the resources it needs to take care of its people….if it wanted to.
But we do not. Not because we can’t. But because we are not supposed to.
We are expected to work, consume, and remain distracted.
We are expected to stay tired, stay anxious, and stay divided.
And we are expected to believe that any attempt to change the system is unrealistic, unpatriotic, or impossible.
But the truth is, the system is not broken. It is functioning exactly as designed.
It is designed to take.
It is designed to distract.
And it is designed to leave us wondering why we are doing everything right and still falling behind.
Can You Relate
If you are working harder than ever but getting nowhere, you are not alone.
If you are wondering why another country has healthcare and you cannot afford a routine checkup, you are asking the right question.
If you are tired of being told that sacrifice is patriotic while billionaires and foreign allies get blank checks, then maybe it is time we stop playing along.
They do not fear Iran. They do not fear China. They do not fear Russia.
What they fear is that you will start paying attention.
Because the moment we stop watching the show and start watching the system, the game is over.
Sources
National Association of Realtors. (2024). Median home price trends
Congressional Research Service. (2023). U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel
Reuters. (2024). Israel aid totals and annual packages
CNBC. (2023). 80 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck
Cato Institute. (2021). U.S. Military Footprint: 750 bases in 80 countries
Al Jazeera. (2021). U.S. global base presence overview
Nkozi Knight 