ah hmmm, maybe I should've asked the context of the question directly 😅 (I'll also edit the main post with context). I was confused how the american working class relates to the means of production. so my setup is that in the context of imperialism, the production of people's needs mainly happens outside of america, and it seems that americans' primary source of wealth and well-being comes from those superprofits

so then americans as a whole seem to have power in maintaining this system, from protecting it via participating in the military, working in jobs that manage this imperial system (e.g. finance, defense, etc.), selecting the american candidates that pursue their favorite imperialist policies (i.e the policies that give them a larger share of the super profits). in turn, the domestic capitalists in america need the support of the americans, so they and the americans come to an agreement on how to divide the superprofits from the factories abroad among them

so, in the broader sense of imperialism, it seems to me that american capitalists and the group of average americans share ownership in the means of production, in a primary sense. but is there something wrong in this reasoning?