The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

Interesting article. The current selfish and misguided crop of politicians and the declining economy (and prospects) lead me to believe there is some truth to what this article states.

The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
cbsnews.com

Congress has a 9% approval rating, so why won't this change? Because people hate Congress, but they like their Congressman. We need an education revolution in this country and the Internet is the rail for that train, but with issues like SOPA we have the wrong people trying to play conductor.

I have no doubt that: In 25 years, we will be able to look back and review commentary that seems to have foretold our current circumstance with almost mystical accuracy.

I have tremendous doubt that: We can sift through the current commentary and find the speaker who is correct about our future 25 years from now.

Looking in to the future is incredibly difficult because humans have the capacity to change course. Who predicted the string of revolutions that occurred in the Middle East this year? I'm sure someone did, but it wasn't the subject of national discourse. At least not in the mainstream media.

I don't question that historically, all empires have met their end, but it is unwise to let someone else dictate your future by writing in a journal.

It's utterly irrelevant who you vote for if the incentives are out of kilter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHma3ZQRVoA

I found the historical insights interesting -- the military misadventures of dying empires in particular. But his energy analysis is a tad obtuse, and the cyberwarfare scenario was nearly comedy. You can tell this person is an historian.

I'm also uncomfortable with the way people talk about China sometimes; they're clearly the new USSR in the minds of some Americans, and I question whether that is warranted. China may well be a problem in many ways, but China also has big problems.

I personally believe that China's biggest problem is the same as that of the rest of the world: the decline of cheap primary energy (peak-cheap-oil comes first), and the decline of economic growth that will inevitably come with it. It will hurt everybody, not just the americans.