From 1945 to 1990, we were told a great struggle pitted capitalism against socialism/communism (chiefly the USSR and China). Yet still today, U.S. leaders demonize Russia and China, despite the end of communism in the USSR and a huge growth of capitalist enterprises in China. The explanation lies in U.S. capitalism’s long history of using nationalism (i.e. foreign dangers) to justify tax-payer funded government actions to protect, subsidize, and support major capitalists’ dominant position in the U.S. economy.