By: Daniel Nardini
In his book, The World America Made, Dr. Robert Kagan asserts that the United States is still the strongest economic, industrial and military power in the world. I may agree that the U.S. economy is still the largest technically, and it still has the most powerful military on earth. But in too many ways, the United States is a shadow of its former self. Dr. Kagan seems too complacent to understand that there has been a fundamental shift where the United States is in serious decline on a whole number of fronts. I only have to look at America’s industrial sector to see this. Go into any Walmart, Target and K-mart store and you will be hard pressed to find anything made in the USA. Eight times out of ten you will only find something made in China. We have lost as much as two-thirds of all our consumer manufacturing industry to overseas outsourcing—mostly to China. This outsourcing is happening even today. This means our unemployment rate remains high, and shows no sign of improving.
Even though America still has the world’s most powerful military, expenditures for the war in Afghanistan and America’s commitment to other regions of the world are not sustainable. Already in serious debt (to China among many countries), the U.S. government will have to make even more drastic cuts to things it does not wish to—even to the U.S. military. America has a poverty of 15 percent. This percentage is not only the highest in American history, but it means America has the highest rate of poverty of any and all First World industrial countries. In this country, with the resources it has, this should not be the case. In his book, Dr. Kagan states that generations before believed that America was always in a “state of decline,” that things were “bad,” and America faced adversaries. According to Dr. Kagan, America always defeated its adversaries or they eventually collapsed and America came out stronger than ever. Kagan believes that America will triumph again. This sort of manifest destiny logic may sound like a nice feel good argument that somehow America will always prevail, but the fact is the United States has never faced such massive internal problems on the scale we are facing now (at least, not since the Great Depression).
For all due purposes, we have no more middle class. It is something that the politicians in Washington, D.C., so cut off from the people of the rest of the country, say even though they do not fully grasp the reality of what is happening in today’s America. The physical infrastructure of this country, despite work having been put into repairing it, is still collapsing. The fact is the U.S. government just simply does not have the money to rebuild what is falling apart. And the national debt alone is in my book the single worst dilemma this country faces. Never in American history have we had a debt on this scale. This is something of vital importance, and using the argument of “America will prevail” will not make this giant balloon go away. America is quickly losing influence in the world. American influence was due to its military and its money. The U.S. government is all out of money and its military is stretched to the breaking point. America will soon have to face the reality that it must scale back its military, shut down most if not all of our bases overseas, and work on drastically reducing the national debt. If it does not do so, the America’s poverty will go out of control, its unemployment will go way up, and we may face even collapse. America is at a crossroads, and Lord knows what direction this country will go. I recommend for my readers The World America Made. It will make you feel good…..before you get back to reality.
The World America is Losing Part II
By: Daniel Nardini
Even though America still has the world’s most powerful military, expenditures for the war in Afghanistan and America’s commitment to other regions of the world are not sustainable. Already in serious debt (to China among many countries), the U.S. government will have to make even more drastic cuts to things it does not wish to—even to the U.S. military. America has a poverty of 15 percent. This percentage is not only the highest in American history, but it means America has the highest rate of poverty of any and all First World industrial countries. In this country, with the resources it has, this should not be the case. In his book, Dr. Kagan states that generations before believed that America was always in a “state of decline,” that things were “bad,” and America faced adversaries. According to Dr. Kagan, America always defeated its adversaries or they eventually collapsed and America came out stronger than ever. Kagan believes that America will triumph again. This sort of manifest destiny logic may sound like a nice feel good argument that somehow America will always prevail, but the fact is the United States has never faced such massive internal problems on the scale we are facing now (at least, not since the Great Depression).
For all due purposes, we have no more middle class. It is something that the politicians in Washington, D.C., so cut off from the people of the rest of the country, say even though they do not fully grasp the reality of what is happening in today’s America. The physical infrastructure of this country, despite work having been put into repairing it, is still collapsing. The fact is the U.S. government just simply does not have the money to rebuild what is falling apart. And the national debt alone is in my book the single worst dilemma this country faces. Never in American history have we had a debt on this scale. This is something of vital importance, and using the argument of “America will prevail” will not make this giant balloon go away. America is quickly losing influence in the world. American influence was due to its military and its money. The U.S. government is all out of money and its military is stretched to the breaking point. America will soon have to face the reality that it must scale back its military, shut down most if not all of our bases overseas, and work on drastically reducing the national debt. If it does not do so, the America’s poverty will go out of control, its unemployment will go way up, and we may face even collapse. America is at a crossroads, and Lord knows what direction this country will go. I recommend for my readers The World America Made. It will make you feel good…..before you get back to reality.