I don't deny that it would do those things, but it's acting like it's losing power and needs to keep it. Rome was too big to fail, as was the caliphate, various Chinese empires, and many others. Heck the east indies trading companies had so much power they could order around naval ships. They're all gone now, and they all acted like this near the end.

They are bending over backward and letting us all take a sniff to keep power. We may not know the exact reason why, but it appears they're losing.