John Robb: US Hollowing Out

There are two great stories from the news that are worth reading:

• A new bill called the National Defense Authorization act is on its way (promoted by Senator John McCain).  This bill will make it legal for the federal government to arrest (both within and outside US borders) and hold indefinitely (without trial) anybody (including US citizens).  Essentially, this makes it possible for the US military to take on the role and function of a secret police force.
• How Hank Paulson, while he was the US Treasury Secretary (at a time when he was arguably the most important gov't official in the world), gave his cronies in the global financial industry a continuous stream of inside information on what the government would do to stop 2008 financial crisis (this info helped this inside group hedge themselves and profit while nobody else could).

Combine the recent efforts by John McCain to create a police state with the revelations of Paulson's corruption (crony capitalism) and you can only conclude that worse is coming.  How much worse?  To me, it's a sure sign that the US is rapidly becoming a hollow state.   Hollow states are the end game for modern nation-states.   What's a hollow state?

The hollow state has the trappings of a modern nation-state (“leaders”, membership in international organizations, regulations, laws, and a bureaucracy) but it lacks any of the legitimacy, services, and control of its historical counter-part.  It is merely a shell of a state that serves as a legal conduit and enforcement mechanisms for global financial interests to loot what's left of the state's economy.   Corruption and violence are its only traits.

If you aren't scoping out or building your own Resilient Community to avoid this disaster, you should be.