Dear Friends,
It seems to me, global trade flows amount to a parasite host relationship. Where the world is the parasite and the US is the host. This system is made possible by profligate borrowing and spending because the dollar is the world reserve currency. Which allows the US to flood the planet with dollars to keep everyone well fed… on the blood of Americans. The elite exported all the jobs they could, then imported workers to fill the jobs they couldn’t. Then gave the American worker opiates, welfare and told us to watch dancing with the stars in our paid for apartment in Cabrini Green, as payment for our future. How better to drain a nation of everything… wealth, gumption and soul? The trouble is, the marks, patsies and pigeons, us… have awakened. Now we want our nation back.
A parasite feeds from a host and provides nothing in return or harms the host. Which is different than a symbiotic relationship. Where both benefit from the interaction. Kind of like the win-win of a free market exchange. Though a parasitic relationship is more like a socialist one. Where some benefit from others hard work… without recompense, even poisoning the host. You can tell a parasitic relationship from a symbiotic one by the transmission of goods and evils. If trade is skewed absurdly, then there’s a reason for it. It’s a parasitic relationship. One where a country sucks from another or a vassal state is being born. Both are examples of parasitic actions. If, on the other hand, trade is pretty even, then one can conclude there is a symbiotic relationship. One where both benefit from trade.
Examined in this light, one can see that world trade is a mixed bag. There are nations that trade in a symbiotic manner and those who exist as parasites on the world economy. The US in this context, is like a wildebeest wandering in the savanna. Every flea, tick and mosquito within a hundred acres around sucks off it. There are Redbilled Oxpeckers that help with the fleas and ticks, as well as bacteria in its gut that help it digest food as well. In the world economy, each nation is an actor that decides its own fate. To be a parasite or symbiotic with the world economy. The country’s elites choose however, not the people. Though there is an incentive to be a parasite, rather than a host, because if you’re not a parasite you’re a host, and a small host is quickly overwhelmed and dies.
The reality is, it’s much easier to be a parasite than symbiotic. Which means the incentive is to be a parasite. At least until one’s economy grows to be able to find a symbiotic niche. The trouble is, wealth distributes on a Pareto curve, which means the plot of political power also closely follows that same curve. If it’s in the self interest of the people who get the most benefit from the state being a parasite to keep it a parasite, then it will remain a parasite. Maybe even try to poison its host nation in some way. Like undermining the host with Fentanyl, stealing IP or hacking infrastructure. Sometimes the parasite becomes so enamored with how smart it is, it thinks it can live without the host. So sets itself to defecating in it’s kitchen. Like small pox.
The ideal situation would be when all nations seek to be symbiotic and eschew parasitic behavior. Then again, we could all join together and sing Kumbaya as well… but it’s not going to happen. I could go on and on about the benefits of a world symbiotic economy, but I think we can all grasp the profound consequence of it. The US can’t be the world’s wildebeest forever. Eventually all the vitality will be sucked out and it’ll die. When that happens the fleas, ticks and tapeworms will have to vie for the remains and then eat each other. The better option is to provide incentives to symbiosis. Some measures could be, automatic reciprocal tariffs, regulatory parity and consequences for parasitic actions. Either the US shakes off the parasites or soon, only bones, dead ticks and empty flea husks will remain.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
