It is a mess. It is in the interest of the US to keep the war going because noone big/important wants to be seen yet supporting Russia or even NOT supporting Ukraine.

That could change now after Lula's interview with Christiane Amanpour. That is probably why she got so visibly angry with him during the interview.

Anyway, the capitalists MUST care about people, because in the Social Democratic countries here labor unions have real power here. In Germany and Austria companies with over 50 people have to have labor reps in decision making positions. Large companies have to have (IIRC) about 1/3 of the board filled with labor reps. So big companies cannot just move their jobs to the US and leave the workers here high and dry.

They'll have to pay huge amounts of severance and/or downsize or just go out of business. That puts huge political pressure on elected officials.

However, there is lag because elections don't happen immediately except for things like votes of no confidence for PMs - that is how BoJo and Liz Truss got the boot. Germany's defense minister just resigned. Pressure is building. As jobs losses climb that pressure will get much higher.

As Ukraine's defeat without direct NATO involvement gets more obvious, that pressure will grow even more. It is one thing to spend a lot more than necessary on gas and oil. A LOT of virtue signalling by the EU in 2022 on that. It is another to lose jobs and entire business areas. It is another to be cucked by the US committing an act of war against an ally - a NATO ally. It is another to be forced to send weapons you don't really have to spare to a war you don't really want to support.

Whatever happens after the war, NATO and the US-EU relationship will never recover fully.