only because we subsidize their pharmacies by creating all the drugs that they use...
Here's the thing. Ailing Americans can't afford to subsidize the entire world. The US sick are too sick to put in the overtime needed to pay many times what others are paying for the same meds.
...NATO is basically United States by its Lonesome...
Indeed. However, the 2% are no longer willing to subsidize the world's most expensive military. The US poor don't have the resources to take their place. The entire defense budget is basically borrowed, which is not sustainable in the long run. On top of this, the 2% want another tax trim.
...regulatory capture...lobbyists...
Yes, that is the case. Lobbyists drive prices to the moon via monopolies/oligopolies (license raj), and bankers do likewise via currency debasement. A double whammy.
Regulatory capture and bank central planning are gradually turning the US into a banana republic. When we had free market capitalism, the US used to produce half of the world's GDP all by itself. #1 by a fantastic margin. Now we are in 2nd place using PPP, and moving backward. Central planning via bankers and lobbyists is substantially responsible.
An honest currency, and free market capitalism (competition) might help to return the US to first place. It would be a long road back though.