*sigh*
Okay, you asked for it.
We have little industrial base.
We have a zillion dollars in entitlements of one stripe or another.
In classic Kleptocratic fashion, that money will initially be stolen from taxpayers.
We will soon have hyper-inflation.
The domestic taxpayers will start to balk.
The entitlement recipients will revolt if their rice-bowls aren’t filled for them, and will need to be kept otherwise busy.
In classic a Kleptocracy the solution is to invade the neighbors and steal their resources and means of production.
When the neighbors are bled dry, invade their neighbors.
At some point, someone across the sea takes an interest.
The someone across the sea has little choice but to stop this expansionism before it reaches their own borders.
A no-holds-barred war starts.
It ends only when the will of one side or the other is broken.
Winner occupies the resulting gravel pit.
Now go back and re-read that and tell me if I am talking about 1930s Germany or modern America...
ping to #56
I will admit that such train of thought has passed through the station of my mind as well.
Also, consider China.