30-09-2013, 03:18 PM
Remember Paul Kennedy's book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers? I read that about 20 years ago. The US has been in a state of relative economic decline since the late 60s/early 70s. The decline of domestic manufacturing, the peak in domestic oil production around 1970, the offshoring of good jobs, the dependence on economic bubbles like real estate and dot-coms and stock market scams, the collapsing middle class, the rising national debt...all signs of decline.