The Bush administration is churning out red ink in excess of $1 trillion annually. The federal budget deficit is approaching $500 billion. The US trade deficit is approaching $700 billion.
The budget deficit is being financed by foreigners, primarily Asians who now hold enough US government debt to exercise power over US interest rates and the value of the dollar whenever they decide to use the power that Bush has placed in their hands.
The trade deficit is being financed by turning over the ownership of US assets and future income streams to foreigners, making Americans forever poorer from the loss of accumulated wealth.
I could really get behind a 2008 president who ran on a “SuperVillian” platform.
Anti-ballistic missile shields? No, doomsday cannons.
Go back to the moon? Blow up the moon.
Launch investigations into torture allegations and report that not nearly enough torture is going on.
There’s not nearly enough cackling in the State of the Union address.
Are we still a superpower when China has us by the economic nuts, and is merely using us until it’s done with us? Our costs are mounting, yet revenues weak. International trade is conducted at our expense. We’re reliant upon the dollar being the main oil currency, yet this is could easily change.
The points in Paul Craig’s article are IMHO pretty telling, and yet you guys so easily brush them off with a simple “No”. Do you guys just think he’s grossly exaggerating, or believe the US’s economic woes aren’t a big deal? Or is it denial?
Shouldn’t a superpower at least be able to stand on it’s own feat, and not need it’s wars to be financed by another country?
Looking at this from a “if it were a game” standpoint, I’d rate the EU and China as having much stronger positions.
The EU averages a 2% growth per year to our 4%ish, in addition to being behind us already in GDP per capita, and the EU spends over half its yearly budget on farm subsidys alone - more if you count other industries. And their militaries are tiny.
China on the other hand has great growth, but a per capita GDP is still less than 1,500, with a third of their population functionally illiterate and a severe lack of modern infrastructure outside their modern Pacific coast cities. And their government is so corrupt it makes Bush look as clean as JFK.
As much as I agree that the alst 5 years have hurt our position in the world, I find it hard to take either the EU or China as a serious contender for our position. No nation is an island, espcially in the 21st century, but they are going to need a whole lot more leverage to make up for their shortfalls.
Well, yes. I’m well aware of what China is doing, but that doesn’t stop us from still being a superpower right now. I think China is currently a kind of quiet superpower itself. Most people don’t realize how strong their hand is, but we’re already in a kind of economic mutually-assured-destruction with them, with the only real difference being that they’re the only ones with their finger on the button.
But for now, we still dominate international affairs. China may have us by the balls, but it isn’t over until they squeeze.
First of all, you might want to find a better example of “clean.” But more importantly, none of the downsides you listed for China detract from their international power, and some of them actually help. Remember, being a superpower isn’t about the people inside the country.
Here are some things that China is:
A permanent member of the UNSC. (One of five.)
A nuclear power. (One of eight or nine.)
A huge economy that is growing ridiculously fast.
The largest conventional military in the world. (right?)
The holder of an extremely large amount of US debt.
They’re clearly one of the most powerful countries in the world already. They’re getting more powerful, we’re getting less powerful. It’s not hard to see where this is going.
China could be a world spanning empire in years to come. It could also be reduced to a collection of smaller states and fiefdoms. The long term stability of its current style of government isnt guaranteed, and corruption and mismanagement are normal practice.
