Posted on 08/10/2011 5:25:04 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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 completely failed. The United States was able to avoid default only by stopping pretty much all other government business for several weeks. And it's not only U.S. political and economic preeminence that is deteriorating, but its cultural hegemony: India's Bollywood and Nigeria's Nollywood are each producing more films a year than Hollywood (to say nothing of their superior artistic quality).
Of course, the United States still possesses greater military strength than any other country in the world. But what good has being the world's policeman done for Americans? Wielding that might meant the United States saw more combat deaths overseas last year than any other country, according to data from Uppsala University. Beyond the blood is the treasure: U.S. military spending increased 81 percent between 2001 and 2010 and now accounts for 43 percent of the global total -- six times its nearest rival, China. The U.S. military burden is equivalent to 4.8 percent of GDP, the largest economic burden of any OECD country.
It is no coincidence that the man who coined the term "imperial overstretch," Yale University historian Paul Kennedy, is British.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
They had people like this guy in the Bible. They called them traitors.
The U.S. military burden is equivalent to 4.8 percent of GDP, the largest economic burden of any OECD country.
There's no need to read further than that.
“China already leads the world in green technology...
There’s no need to read further than that. “
Yeh ever gone to Beijeng and tried to take breath of air?
In the mid 1950s, the military accounted for 10% of the U. S. Federal budget. Somehow we survived.
Today it’s somewhere between 4 and 4.8%. And by all accounts, some people want to cut that by 75%.
The Left sure has some people’s number.
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