An intelligence forecast being prepared for the next president on future global risks envisions a steady decline in U.S. dominance in the coming decades, as the world is reshaped by globalization, battered by climate change, and destabilized by regional upheavals over shortages of food, water and energy.
The report, previewed in a speech by Thomas Fingar, the U.S. intelligence community's top analyst, also concludes that the one key area of continued U.S. superiority -- military power -- will "be the least significant" asset in the increasingly competitive world of the future, because "nobody is going to attack us with massive conventional force."
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Reduced Dominance Is Predicted for U.S.
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3 comments:
Let's see now:
$700 billion bailout for bad commercial paper, or bundled mortgage stock derivatives, based on the 5% of US mortgages expected to fail (which is quite optimistic).
$1 trillion for war, currently, with another $1 trillion to wrap it up, over time.
$10 trillion in national debt, with a new rise in the debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion awaiting Congressional approval (oh, and real national debt, considering legal debt obligations for established federal programs is at least $20 trillion to $50 trillion over the next several years).
$53 trillion in credit-debt swap insurance obligations (AIG, et al).
$2.7 trillion federal budget for this year, continuing to incorporate 100s of billions in deficit spending, and rising...
You know, a trillion here, and a trillion there, and we're talking some real money. One trillion is a million millions. Think about these numbers. Multiple 100s of billions, each year, in overseas trade debt.
GNP is only $14 trillion. We pay $300 billion annual interest on the national debt alone. Add another $700 billion in US oil costs per year. Not to mention global warming, CO2 pollution rates continuing to rise, ecological damage, etc., etc.
Is it any wonder the power, influence, and authority of the U.S. is in decline? And the crisis of peak oil is right around the corner. You know, someday, the Middle East, China, Japan, and other nations and economic blocks are going to realize we have no possible means to pay our debts, and all it would take is one nation, like China, to start calling in their loans. Maybe then they won't loan us any more of the money, plus interest, we paid them for goods and energy. Then what happens? I'll tell you:
All fucking hell on earth breaks loose. And some people wonder why I'm pessimistic about the future.
All things must pass
Yeah, maybe even including delusional sentient species.
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