Is the US running an empire?

[AmericanPride]

I commented before on the appealing principle of "malevolent design", and its impact on conspiracy theories around the world.

I could not find your previous comment, though I assume its a refutation of my assertion that the United States is subject to the global pillaging brought about by financial capitalism. I believe it is disingenuous to conflate "traditional" conspiracy theories (i.e. new world order, alien collaboration, etc) with the claim that a financial structure exists that encourages the concentration of wealth into a very few amount of hands at the expense of much of the rest of the world irrespective of nationality and political boundaries. Nor do I find the design "malevolent" insofar that its largely the culmination of unintended consequences and that, properly regulated, the transfer of wealth is not invariably a negative outcome. This is really elite theory applied on a global scale, aided by the deconstruction of regulations and barriers to the mobility of finance, and the de-terroritalization of power and wealth. This has resulted in the appropriation of private property in the United States and Europe (a process that has already occurred in the developing world) and extensive elimination or reduction of valued public services. In the US particularly, even though finance has been decoupled from material wealth, it has created the false conflict between social programs and defense, where in reality the true conflict is between the public good and private wealth. There has been little discussion about corporate accountability, corporate taxation, capital gains taxation, or structural economic reform; all issues that have a direct bearing on the concentration of wealth.