Perhaps because the House controls the purse strings?

Careful. Remember what Mark Twain had to say about arguing with a fool.

Shoot 'em all to Mars, let John Carter sort them out.

And we are in uncharted waters because someone decided to cut taxes while still waging a couple of wars "off the books".

We need a government program to fix that.

Group affiliation has always been more important than...just about everything. Groups. Tribes. Territory. It's what mammals do.

In Soviet Russia, government pilfers you. Seems like a trend.

No, no, I'm sure we're due to slip off in the ocean any time now.

Good joke. As a nerd, of course, you already know that "gop" means "Guardians of Peace" in this context.

I've seen it used in archeology and linguistics.

Ur welcome.

They invaded countries that had oil. Can China invade a country that has dollars and basically say "gimme your dough?" Would not that act of invasion itself destroy the target's economy (and dollars)?

And if in the position of securing a political goal the dictators decide that the gain outweighs the damage to their economy, they will--in glowing, happy, joyful terms--tell their population to go ahead and suck it up.

Counting on self-interest to stop bad actors is no guarantee.

sr

Betcha most of their kids were well-behaved.

"Some states are so stupid they just need to go away for good and California is one of them."

I agree. Once we disrupt the 8th largest economy in the world, all that excess production can be re-distributed to other places, improving more people's lives. The people there can then vote with their shoes and find other places to live. Roll out the welcome wagon--Californians, here they come!

No, because all stations would have been on the same playing field. When one player decides to behave with especial assholiness, then, yes, people will remember that.