Being preeminent does not preclude decline.
When half of the Roman Empire fell, the remaining, tottering half was still the greatest power in the region.
“In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.”
RE: In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
The only thing I find questionable in the above quote as it applies today is this — it assumes that the rest of the world is blind ( as in economically and culturally handicapped ).
Cornwall invaded Francia and took over ~ having missed the brunt of the weather problem ~ and eventually, in the deceptive guise of Castile and Leon (Castle and Lion) pushed the Moors back to North Africa about 700 years later.
Actually that just underscores how bad it became ~ when Cornwall is whipping your tail that means you are dead!
The real issue is the extent to which mechanization, automation, computerization, robotics and improved work methods are replacing HUMAN BEINGS with MACHINES, and it's actually pretty fast.
Before this is over the USA will be the world's lowest cost producer of everything but potato chips. I do believe the foreigners are catching up with us there.
I think that we are seeing a combination of factors. One is that US companies are automating their production to become more efficient removing the requirement for hand labor.
The second factor is that both our colleges and public schools are not turning out graduates that companies can directly utilize.
However, we need to get a manufacturing base back in this country. We are also being strangled by taxes both local, state, and Federal.
The real issue is the extent to which mechanization, automation, computerization, robotics and improved work methods are replacing HUMAN BEINGS with MACHINES, and it's actually pretty fast.
Before this is over the USA will be the world's lowest cost producer of everything but potato chips. I do believe the foreigners are catching up with us there.