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So this is a taste of what it will be like when the American superpower starts shrinking. Enjoying it yet? After the humiliation of the United States losing its AAA credit rating; after watching the American stock market descend into chaos; after living for two years in a $15 trillion economy unable to grow beyond 2%, with unemployment rates rarely experienced in the U.S., Americans have their first whiff of inhabiting an empire in decline.

As the U.S. bond rating falls and the stock market plunges, the American Century looks to be well and truly over. While this has provoked no small amount of hand-wringing, Americans may soon come to enjoy no longer bearing the responsibility for running the world's indispensable nation. The signs of decline are everywhere. Illegal immigrants are heading back home in search of a better life. China already leads the world in green technology and is about to become the world's biggest economy in terms of purchasing power. Two U.S.-led wars are dragging toward an end charitably described as: mission not...

"He's a good dad to our kids, but was always criticizing me," Terry complained. "I couldn't do anything right, in his mind at least. Thirteen years was enough. I figured it would only get worse, so I left." Like most marriages that end in divorce, Terry's marriage began happily enough. And it ended not because of a serious transgression like adultery, abuse, or substance use, but because the couple's personal relationship deteriorated and they gave up. They gave in to two marriage-killing habits: criticism and pessimism. A number of years ago, marriage expert John Gottman identified four relationship patterns that...

Despite concerns about illegal immigrants in the California labor market, a new report shows that their number has declined in the most heavily populated areas in California during the last decade. The population of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles County fell by 8,000 between 2001 and 2008, according to a new report from the Public Policy Institute of California, which uses the term "unauthorized immigrants." In Orange County, the population of illegal immigrants fell by 60,000. And in Santa Clara County, it fell by 61,000. "After many years of increases, the number of California's unauthorized immigrants has remained stable or...

Asked why President Barack Obama was making a primetime address on the debt crisis last night, a White House official said, "I guarantee you that 80% of the audience tonight has never seen more than a 10 second clip of the president talking about this." Need proof? A new poll out today shows 46% of Americans have more faith in the president to handle the debt issue while just 34% trust Congressional Republicans more, but of those same Americans surveyed, 45% don't want the debt ceiling raised at all fearing that would lead to higher government spending and make the...

California's higher education system is in decline, with fewer students able to afford college, falling college participation rates and dwindling state support, according to a study released Wednesday. The report suggests that the state, once celebrated nationally for its three-tiered system of public colleges, has lost status as a leader in such areas as affordability, preparation of high school graduates, college-going rates and investment in higher education. The analysis was by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy at Cal State Sacramento. "This report demonstrates the consequences of resting on reputations and policies of yesteryear," the study concludes. "California...

Why China Wants South China Sea East Asia | Security | China July 18, 2011By Tetsuo Kotani Beijing is interested in more than just energy and fishery resources. The area is also integral to its nuclear submarine strategy. In an effort to underscore its importance to Asia, geostrategist Nicholas Spykman once described it as the ‘Asiatic Mediterranean.’ More recently, it has been dubbed the ‘Chinese Caribbean.’ And, just as Rome and the United States have sought control over the Mediterranean and Caribbean, China now seeks dominance over the South China Sea. It’s clear that China’s claims and recent assertiveness have...

There is something surreal and unnerving about the so-called "debt ceiling" negotiations staggering on in Washington. In the real world, negotiations on an increase in one's debt limit are conducted between the borrower and the lender. Only in Washington is a debt increase negotiated between two groups of borrowers. Actually, it's more accurate to call them two groups of spenders. On the one side are Obama and the Democrats, who in a negotiation supposedly intended to reduce American indebtedness are (surprise!) proposing massive increasing in spending (an extra $33 billion for Pell Grants, for example). The Democrat position is: You...

Where are the jobs? Not the stimulus signs, rhetoric about "shovel-ready" economic voodoo or propping-up of an anemic manufacturing sector, but the real jobs? Polls at the beginning of July showed President Obama in an increasingly hazardous position with voters on jobs and the economy. A McClatchy-Marist poll put his economic approval rating at just 37 percent among registered voters. A Gallup poll found U.S. economic confidence had plummeted by 7 percent since June. Last year, Obama used Pennsylvania's Allentown Metal Works as a backdrop to tout his stimulus and job-creation success. A couple of months later, the plant closed....

Ron Paul's recent idea on how to ease the national debt is hardly original but none the less worthy of consideration. He has proposed what leftist critics of the status quo monetary system have been proposing for decades: that money printing should be used to fund the government. To give Ron due credit, he is not proposing exactly that. More precisely, he is proposing that the Fed should tear up a bundle of its Treasury securities, which would lower our overall debt total bringing us below the current debt ceiling. Still, the mechanics are identical, if not in reverse order....

Xun Wang, a former Managing Director of PPG Paints Trading, has been indicted on a charge of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Regulations.She is accused of exporting and reexporting high-performance epoxy coatings to the Chashma 2 Nuclear Power Plant in Pakistan.She is a Chinese national and lawful permanent resident of the United States.In 2006, PPG sought an export license for the shipments of coatings to Chashma II. The Department of Commerce denied that license application. Following that denial, Wang and her co-conspirators agreed upon a scheme to export and reexport the high-performance...

I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth – Europe died in Auschwitz. We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, and talent. --- We destroyed the Chosen People, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world. --- The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. --- These are the people we burned. --- And under the pretense of tolerance, and...

I am a successful small businessman and a patriot who loves America and always sees its greatness. I am also an optimistic, positive thinker who always sees the glass half full. But not this time. I predicted doom if Obama was elected. Sadly the results are far worse than imagined. The economy is in shambles. America is staring at economic disaster — Armageddon. Even me, the eternal optimist is scared at what the future holds. We are the Titanic, headed straight for the iceberg. America has always been a land of boom and bust. It’s just part of business cycle....

Michigan patriot's Op-Ed letter asks: What has America become? Has America become the land of the special interest and the home of the double standard...? Let's see: if we lie to the Congress, it's a felony- and if the Congress lies to us, it's just politics; If we dislike a black person, we're racist- and if a black dislikes whites, it's their 1st Amendment right; The government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; In the public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the word 'God' in...

A study by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund found that 47 percent of adults in the city are ‘functionally illiterate’.‘Functionally illiterate’ means they struggle with day-to-day tasks, like reading job applications, following a bus schedule or understanding product labels. Those deemed illiterate however have been educated. The report indicated that the same group found to be ‘functionally illiterate’ had completed element education, where reading is taught and half of the group had either a high school diploma or a GED. Nearly half of the city’s population lacks the necessary skills to work in even the most entry level and remedial...

n March 15, ABC News, in cooperation with the Washington Post, released the results of a new survey done by Langer Research Associates. One of the questions asked about the level of confidence that US citizens have in our system of government today.

There are over 300,000 evangelical Christian churches in America. That equates to tens of millions of professing Christians and hundreds of thousands of Christian ministers. Think of the church sanctuaries, educational facilities, schools, camps, radio broadcasts, television programs, colleges, seminaries, preschools, youth retreats, etc., that grace America. In some communities there is a church building on just about every corner. In spite of this massive exposure to the modern Church, however, the nation has been left virtually unaffected, uninfluenced, and unimpressed. In fact, one could make the argument that while America’s churches have experienced unprecedented growth in membership and wealth...

CDC: Abortions Declined in 2007, Black Women Have Highest Rate Washington, DC -- A new report the Centers for Disease Control issued today indicates abortions fell in 2007 to their second lowest level in the last 10 years. However, as has been the case for some time, the CDC report is incomplete as it leaves out some states. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/02/24/cdc-abortions-declined-in-2007-black-women-have-highest-rate/

Members of the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country are currently aflutter with talks of a desperate need for change for the aging and shrinking body. A group of them – 175 to be exact – believes the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is "deathly ill" and will not survive without "drastic intervention." "Is it time to acknowledge that traditional denominations like the PC(USA) have served in their day but now must be radically transformed?" the group of pastors, lay leaders and elders pose. Leading the group are John Crosby of Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, Minn., and Jim Singleton of First...

MUMBAI: Implicitly acknowledging the decline of American dominance, Barack Obama on Sunday said the US was no longer in a position to "meet the rest of the world economically on our terms". Speaking at a town hall meeting in Mumbai, he said, "I do think that one of the challenges that we are going face in the US, at a time when we are still recovering from the financial crisis is, how do we respond to some of the challenges of globalisation? The fact of the matter is that for most of my lifetime and I'll turn 50 next year...