For some reason I can’t help but think of the analogies of our current situation to the last years of the Soviet Union, when on paper it looked like a juggernaut albeit with decrepit leaders, but the numbers were lies, more lies and statistics. The elites were filthy rich but the situation on the ground was unraveling - basic services were starting to fail (analogies to Private Equity ruining everything in America from clinics to plumbing). And then you have Gorbachev who recognized the situation and attempted a “perestroika” (analogous to Trump and his reformist policies including DOGE) but that led to the final collapse. The analogies are just too many, even the failure in Afghanistan.