A shattering moment in America's fall from power-The Observer UK

[go west young man]

Our gaze might be on the markets melting down, but the upheaval we are experiencing is more than a financial crisis, however large. Here is a historic geopolitical shift, in which the balance of power in the world is being altered irrevocably. The era of American global leadership, reaching back to the Second World War, is over.

You can see it in the way America's dominion has slipped away in its own backyard, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez taunting and ridiculing the superpower with impunity. Yet the setback of America's standing at the global level is even more striking. With the nationalisation of crucial parts of the financial system, the American free-market creed has self-destructed while countries that retained overall control of markets have been vindicated. In a change as far-reaching in its implications as the fall of the Soviet Union, an entire model of government and the economy has collapsed.

Ever since the end of the Cold War, successive American administrations have lectured other countries on the necessity of sound finance. Indonesia, Thailand, Argentina and several African states endured severe cuts in spending and deep recessions as the price of aid from the International Monetary Fund, which enforced the American orthodoxy. China in particular was hectored relentlessly on the weakness of its banking system. But China's success has been based on its consistent contempt for Western advice and it is not Chinese banks that are currently going bust. How symbolic yesterday that Chinese astronauts take a spacewalk while the US Treasury Secretary is on his knees.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/28/usforeignpolicy.useconomicgrowth



A very interesting read.

[bemildred]

1. I want to see Obama and McCain debate this. nt

[tomp]

3. their similarties would become much more apparent. nt

[bemildred]

6. They would be similar in not being willing to face the facts in public.

From fear of losing the election for failing to spout enough happy talk. The infantile level of political discourse in this country goes far in explaining our loss of world leadership, "choppy" economic performance, a social decay.

[tomp]

10. agreed. nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. I know what McCain will say in the debate

My friends.....when I was a POW I did not have any money.
Pulled myself up by my own bootstraps.
Had to make the bootstraps out of left over rice grains.
But the fundamental Americans are strong.
Crazy, but strong.
That reminds me of a story....

[texanshatingbush]

2. GWB has gutted the USA on his watch.......

....I hope he finally realizes, during his lifetime, what a miserable failure he was in every way.

[tomp]

4. you cannot lay this all on gwb, however...

...as the article clearly states. this goes back decades and is bipratisan.

[Kind of Blue]

5. He'll never get it.

The other day when the bailout meeting was falling apart, he asked, “Can’t we just all go out and say things are OK?” He never stops blowing me away. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4106991

[snake in the grass]

15. GWB...

...will recognize no such thing. His view of himself would never allow that. No, this will all be the fault of the angry liberals who just hate 'Murica. I would love to see him in fucking prison.

[Shanti Mama]

8. I'm an American but have not lived there for ten years.

I don't fit. It doesn't fit me.

I think loss of superpower status might be for the best for the US. My children go to an international school with kids from every continent (except antarctica), over 45 different countries in a school of about 300. The nationalistic "America is so great." attitude can be really ugly when seen from outside. The Danes and Nigerians and Koreans, Canadians, British, Indians, Swiss, Norwegians, etc... they seem more at peace. The expectations are reasonable. We do not have to be the best. We do have to be OUR best.

I'm sorry that we will all go through terrible pain as a result of the squandering of our country's integrity, resources, etc. But I think Barack CAN restore the world's respect for us in new and better ways. America is NOT first. Country is NOT first.

Our school's mission statement is very much about global citizens. We all need to learn how to be that -- citizens of earth first, the US second. I truly believe this.

[loudsue]

11. I wish the same, Shanti...as your school's mission statement.

Citizens of the earth first...country second.

[Shanti Mama]

19. Thanks, Loudsue.

I think our children will be one step closer.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Is there anyone here who doubts that Republicans will not face this

mockery with introspection, but think that they'll have to beat up on some small Latin American or Caribbean island to regain their sense of superiority?

God help us. Do those people ever think?

[struggle4progress]

18. Nazi wannabe Malkin has been blaming illegal immigrants.

[bvar22]

12. Agreed...and NO ONE in Washington is addressing this issue.

BOTH Political Parties have Tunnel Vision. They are both Covering their ASSES and protecting their BIG contributors.

This is an opportunity to drive a stake through the corrupt policies of "Free Markets" and "Deregulation".

Where are our "Democrats?
They should be clamoring for a return to the policies of both Roosevelts,
Trust Buster Teddy
&
Free The Slaves Franklin

Where are our "Democrats"?
Oh Wait. I found them:


Time to move to the wilderness and plant a garden, Folks.
These people don't give a SHIT about you.

[Hekate]

13. Cry, the beloved country. The Bush Cabal has cost us everything. nt

[Raster]

14. Fucking stunning.

"Having created the conditions that produced history's biggest bubble, America's political leaders appear unable to grasp the magnitude of the dangers the country now faces. Mired in their rancorous culture wars and squabbling among themselves, they seem oblivious to the fact that American global leadership is fast ebbing away. A new world is coming into being almost unnoticed, where America is only one of several great powers, facing an uncertain future it can no longer shape."

[Emillereid]

16. Our downfall was predicted by Emanuel Todd in the book 'After the Empire.'

He predicted our demise just as he had the Soviet Union in his book 'Before the fall.'

[Waiting For Everyman]

17. Stupid enough to kill the golden goose - the middle class.

I'd consider it almost worth it, if the stupid ideological bs from the RW never came up again. It was idiotic from minute one, and this is 30 years of it later.

But in this bailout, it's evident that the Repubs are still waving that laissez-faire flag. That philosophy needs to be utterly killed, so that anyone who advocates it again loses all credibility. The job isn't done yet, and it needs doing. Articles like this help, and we need many more to get it through their rock-thick skulls.

A major step forward on that effort would be to PROSECUTE PHIL & WENDY GRAMM IMMEDIATELY! And then continue...

[tama]

20. The middle class

is stupid enough to kill the golden goose - the carrying capacity of Mother Earth to include also humans.