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“US global power ‘set to decline’” * Open Thread

By SusanUnPC on November 26, 2008 at 3:14 PM in Current Affairs

“A report issued by the National Intelligence Council (NIC), a group of US intelligence analysts, has predicted that America’s economic, military and political power will decline over the next couple of decades.” – Al Jazeera English, Nov. 24, 2008 (Part I)

To which, you say?

OPEN THREAD!

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhXA3fXpCFk Woman Voter

    Clips from We Will Not Be Silenced, a documentary on the 2008 election.
    http://www.WeWillNotBeSilenced2008.com

    We Will Not Be Silenced Promo Clips
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y…h? v=yhXA3fXpCFk
    ……

    Not a surprise, when a democracy lets down its voters and it will decline. We must have faith that and fight for those core principles that make this country great.

    I believe we can rebuild and gain back our strength…I really do.

  • Seattle Moss

    So America is in decline..What a joke!

    America has a bigger economy at 14 trillion than the next 5 economies combined. Russia’s economy is a scant 1.3 trillion and China has a whopping 3.2 trillion economy.
    As for the American military our 700Billion is equal to the rest of the world combined. American sphere of influence reaches to every corner of the world.
    As the result of the US recession the rest of the world is going into a depression. No Surprise.

    As for others owning us..Countries that buy up American infrastructure beware..You only own our infrastructure on paper. Whenever nationalism rises in this country we will take it back and have you holding the bag.. As for people we defend against terrorism..Time for you to pay up or be exposed.

    Yes, It’s a great day to be an American!!
    The United states is by far Number 1 and will continue to be so under a conservative Obama administration.
    The rest of the world that wishes American defeat can go shove it!

    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhXA3fXpCFk Woman Voter

      Terrorist gunmen attack Mumbai’s tourist areas, killing scores and reportedly seeking British and American targets.
      http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Mumbai-Hotel-Beseiged-Reports-Of-At-Least-A-Dozen-Injured-In-Shooting/Article/200811415162454?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15162454_Mumbai_Hotel_Beseiged%3A_Reports_Of_At_Least_A_Dozen_Injured_In_Shooting

      ………………

      Well, you may want to tell that to the terrorists that are looking for British and Americans to kill.

      Oh, and Obama is very much like Bush he said to go shopping! Yup, that will fix it…

      • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhXA3fXpCFk Woman Voter

        This was a coordinated attack, so far I see five places they attacked. Gosh I had to go look and see what level (alert) we are in at Home Land Security:
        Current Threat Level

        November 26, 2008 – The United States government’s national threat level is Elevated, or Yellow.

        http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/Copy_of_press_release_0046.shtm

      • Seattle Moss

        Yes it’s a cruel world!!
        For all of you that think we should investigate and prosecute those that have kept us safe for the past 7 years just wait 5 minutes.
        The war on terror has only just begun!

        Obama and his supporters and much of the world have been stuck on stupid having a pre 911 mentality and thinking we can talk to the terrorists and everything will be OK.

        For all you Bush haters and I used to one of them the Iraq war is Brilliant strategy.
        Now that Hillary will be SOS I believe that the shield that Bush has built to protect the US will continue. No longer does the world think that the United States are wimps or paper tiger. We are the real deal and the terrorists know it.
        What people need to realize is that the terrorists don’t play by any rules..Neither should we!..That’s unless you want the end of western civilization and National Suicide.

        I’m just glad that left wing pacifist public opinion doesn’t determine national security or foreign policy

        • rolling_thunder

          Yeah that’s all fine and dandy but BUSH spent too much money on this war when he promised to fund it with Iraqi oil revenues. Bad move on Bush’s part. Congress approved the war based on paying for it with oil revenues..

          • Seattle Moss

            I wonder what the price would be if we faced world resource wars costing millions of lives.
            Iraq is the center of all activity in the middle east. The fact that we’re there for the foreseable future prevents the terrorists from gaining the necessary infrastructure and petrol dollars to commit mass death on the rest of the world.
            The terrorists must resort to desperate measures such as pirating tankers to get money.

      • Seattle Moss

        Woman voter says..

        Oh, and Obama is very much like Bush he said to go shopping! Yup, that will fix it…

        I’m wondering how you felt a week after 911.
        I think everybody should go back to that moment in time and just reflect on the feelings that you had.
        This economy lost a trillion dollars in the stock market after the markets had been closed for several days.
        Air space had been shut down for many days.
        People were in fear and frozen in their homes. These same people today second guess and pretend the attack never happened.
        We did get attacked and all of us collectively told Bush to do whatever it took to shut down the terrorist networks..
        and while we were petrified scared Bush told us to go out and shop…I see nothing wrong with that statement.

        • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhXA3fXpCFk Woman Voter

          I was out of the country…stuck, listening to Sky News and feeling home sick. At the time my brother was in the Army, so how do you think I felt. In fact I was on one of the first flights allowed once the airports were open.

          There had also been other situations beyond the US but I am sure you are aware of that too.

          The comment Obama made was in reference to the economy, but most people don’t even have credit because of the credit crunch. The Bail Out seems to have stopped at the the top and nothing trickled down and the second Bush stimulus checks have just started to arrive. Check the mail. How you tided that in with 911?

          • karen for Clinton 2012

            There are no second stimulus checks approved yet. If you are waiting at your mailbox it might be a long wait. Maybe you used snark?

            • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhXA3fXpCFk Woman Voter

              Some thing arrived in the mail and it said it was connected to that? Maybe it was the first, I thought it was a bit of lost effort and no I wasn’t waiting for it.

          • Seattle Moss

            Bush said shortly after 911 when there was real threats of bombings at malls to go out and shop and not be scared.

        • TeakWoodKite

          Seattle, I spent the week learning of the deaths of childhood friends and people I knew. (NY born and raised)

          later in November I was up on riverside in the 80′s and 16 floors up, and I could still smell of death and the burning of all manner of toxic things blowing the Hudson.

          Gloves off, sure you bet. Torture? No.

          I do disagree about the shopping and duct tape shopping spree thing. Wrong message, in that it was an opportunity wasted to bridge a divide.

          Someday, SusanUnPc will re-publish Dr. Carols letter about her experience at ground zero.

  • bert

    I think we are on a decline. I don’t think right now it is inevitable. It would take a lot to turn it around however. One of America’s saving graces is our ability to change and to adapt. But it will be difficult and I have yet to see a leader that can get us over the hump of inevitable decline.

    I always knew that someday America would decline. It happens to all great societies and empires – Greece, Egypt, Rome, and England to name but a few. But I never thought it would occur in my lifetime. I always thought it would be 200-250 years from now.

  • The Robot

    The neocons and other assorted criminals finally had their way under the The Bush cabal.

    The Press is long since dead.

    The treasury utterly looted – untold Trillions added in national debt.

    Growing up, I never would have thought this possible; and how quickly they can destroy from within!

    A wonderful time for a charlatan hopey-changey dude as president. I can only hope Obama’s integrity deficit (and bizarre messianic character) does not ultimately lead to some further disaster.

    • The Robot

      I wish to add that I am hopeful in spite of these truths. Perhaps when some distance is between us and BushII things will improve considerably – even with yet another kind of interloper ready to assume the stage.

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  • Right on the Left Coast

    I don’t necessarily disagree that, in relative terms, our economic and military power will soften somewhat. As for political power, well it is simply a result of economic and military power.

    I think it is logical to conclude that in a post-imperial and post-WW II world many other nations have had, or will have, their own industrial/technological revolutions. These growing economies have begun to flatten the economic hierarchy around the globe.

    As these countries invest in military technology they will create even greater political strength. It won’t be so much that the U.S. will get weaker in absolute terms, it will be that more countries will gain strength. They may not be able to challenge us directly, either economically or militarily, but they will forge alliances (i.e. Venezuela/Russia) for the purpose of throwing their collective political weight around.

    With growing and increasingly interwoven economies and the spread of nuclear and other military technology, I feel the future will be one of leveraging alliances to build economic and military partnerships. I think this is one of the reasons we need to nurture our relationships in Eastern Europe and with Columbia in South America.

    Bottom line…I think the amount of power the U.S. has by itself will be diminished, but we may continue to exert tremendous influence through our alliances.

  • rolling_thunder

    The state of New Jersey is insolvent. Bankrupt might be a better word. New Jersey is $60 billion in the hole on pension funding and the Governor is planning on skipping payments in a “pension payment holiday” until 2012 so as to not increase property taxes. To top it off, the ongoing plan assumptions are 8.25%. Sorry NJ, that simply is not going to happen. How many states does that make so far? Obama gonna fix the economy saying help is on the way :lol: Tell me another one. :lol: Obama can find his way down a hallway never mind fix a super powers economy.. :eek:
    Read the remainder of the story here>
    globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/11/state-of-new-jersey-is-insolvent.html

    • stodgie

      isn’t the “governor” a democrat? our esteemed governor here in texas commonly known as governor goodhair(democrat turned repub) took two months to complain to his good bud bush that texas has been given the backside of fema’s hand after ike. i am all for pulling up by our bootstraps but heavens we took in the majority of the katrina evacuees(over 100000) with supplies food, medical care, and housing. they for the most part are still here and many on welfare. so when we need a helping hand especially in cleaning up the beaches and Looking for OUR DEAD/over 400 missing, we are told to get along and don’t make scene.

  • rolling_thunder

    *correction*
    Obama can find his way down a hallway never mind fix a super powers economy. :razz:

  • rolling_thunder

    *correction*
    Obama can’t find his way down a hallway never mind fix a super powers economy. :razz:

  • rolling_thunder

    By not providing the American people with real birth docs along with medical and school transcripts, nObama just flipped a big Turkey the bird to the people of America.
    Is there anyone out there to protect the constitution :???: Anyone? :grin:
    :cry:

  • Lizzy

    I am expecting Obama to have a very nasty and close encounter with the supremes and I suspect they are hard headed and not hopey dopey. Maybe they wil deport him.

    • Ferd Berfle

      I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for it. Just saying.

  • rw

    I agree with Left Coast above who stated the “decline” is in relative terms. A little over a decade ago, academic political journals were awash with articles about how a bipolar world had become a unipolar world with the fall of the USSR. The US was THE hegemon, no questions asked. The issue debated was as the world entered multipolarity, which countries would join the US in establishing a multilateral world order. Further on would come regionalism in which regions of the world would be balanced against each other. US/Europe being one eco/pol. regional bloc.

    On the loss of the power, I will add historian Hobsbawn observation on the decline of the British Empire: complacency by the industrialists that held capital and by the wealthy class. As the century turned, they were more content in enjoying their standard of living than in innovation for the greater good. I often think of this…

    • TeakWoodKite

      As the century turned, they were more content in enjoying their standard of living than in innovation for the greater good. I often think of this…

      Me too rw.

  • TeakWoodKite

    To which, you say?

    “NUTS!”

  • AdrianS

    “Second, if Obama dares to take the Presidential “Oath or Affirmation” of office, knowing that he is not “a natural born Citizen,” he will commit the crime of perjury or false swearing (see Article II, Section 1, Clause 7). For, being ineligible for “the Office of President, he cannot “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,” or even execute it at all, to any degree. Thus, his very act of taking the “Oath or Affirmation” will be a violation thereof! So, even if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court himself looks the other way and administers the “Oath or Affirmation,” Obama will derive no authority whatsoever from it.”

    OBAMA MUST STAND UP NOW OR STEP DOWN
    By Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.

    http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin84.htm

    SIGN THE PETITION TO FORCE BARACK OBAMA TO PROVE HIS NATURAL BORN CITIZENSHIP
    AS REQUIRED BY THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81550

  • TeakWoodKite

    BO supporter backlash.

    Let’s get something straight. By the time Obama is done, we will not be talking about $500 or $700 billion more in bailout money that our president-elect will have spent. By the time he is done, I guarantee he will, including money spent under his command, through the Federal Reserve (indirectly, but under him, nonetheless) will exceed three trillion dollars and could reach as high as ten trillion.

    Rob Kall @opednews

    • Ferd Berfle

      Those are some numbers that might even scare a spendthrift neocon. Wow.

  • Cubs in 09

    There has been much criticism of of Dick Morris on this site. HOWEVER… Read this. At the very least it’s food for thought. And if Morris is only half right…?

    Bush’s Legacy: European Socialism

    http://am1280thepatriot.townhall.com/columnists/DickMorrisandEileenMcGann/2008/11/19/bushs_legacy_european_socialism

    Will Obama govern from the left? He doesn’t have to. George W. Bush has done all the heavy lifting for him.

    • Seattle Moss

      Hello Cubbie!

      I listen to Dick Morris only when he is not attacking Hillary or Bill. Much of his incite is relevant.
      Obama is going to cause a depression.
      Here is a good article from the dick
      http://www.newsmax.com/morris/morris_free_market/2008/11/26/155696.html

      • Cubs in 09

        Thanks, Seattle! I’ll go read that right now. I just got back from the drug store, picking up some medicine for my mother. She seems to be coming down with the flu. I’ve always thought Dick Morris was kind of funny in his own way. I take his opinions with a grain of salt. I only believe half the pundits half the time anyway (if that much!) etc. ;)

        • Seattle Moss

          I give poor dick alot of latitude. I mean after all what can you say about a guy who likes to suck toes.

        • Cubs in 09

          Good article, Seattle. Sobering and informative.

          The real reason [for the economic crisis] is the massive explosion of debt at all levels and in all forms that has engulfed the world.

          Ay, there’s the rub.

          I look back on my younger days (1980′s) when I owed students loans, had an entry-level job, struggled to pay rent, had to use my credit card to buy groceries, etc. Only now do I realize what a great life lesson that was. Namely, stay out of debt! We must all go back to the philosophy of Franklin. A penny saved is a penny earned. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to be smug. I’ve lost 25%-30% from my 401. WHAT to do now? Stay in the market? Buy (US) bonds? CDs? Gold? Keep cash in a lock box buried in the backyard? I don’t know. Seattle what say you?

          • Seattle Moss

            This is indeed a world problem and much worse in other parts of the world. If you read my post 2nd from the top you will find out how bullish I am on the good old USA.

            I also plan on buying Iraqi dinar and GM if they can figure out a rescue plan.

            • Linda C.

              Dick Morris is full of it. Obama is going “to cause” the Depression? It is already quickly approaching.

              It is our attitude that is the problem. We want things without having to pay for them and that includes this war in Iraq. People want to make money by not producing anything. We have borrowed, speculated, and spent our way into oblivion. Everyone wants services and perks, but no one wants to pay the taxes, pay the bill, or do the work.

              The corporatist have convinced you that to get the best and the brightest you need to pay those multi-million dollar salaries with golden parachutes while they rob the company blind and send it over the cliff. When that doesn’t work, they need further subsidies from the tax payers to continue their malfeasance. Our treasury has been raided and now when the government needs to intervene there is nothing there.

              The corporatist have become the artificial aristocracy that Thomas Jefferson warned us about. We so gladly followed them just to get some stuff we neither need nor can afford. Our kids break something, it is immediately replaced. They loose it .They demand another one. It is five minutes out of style..an upgrade is expected.

              • Cubs in 09

                Linda C.

                While I like Dick Morris a little more than you do, I completely agree with everything else you said.

  • Cubs in 09

    Seattle: It was on this website that I read a vague reference to that just this month. I had no idea. When was that? If it came to light any year between Opening Day and the end of the World Series then I was incommunicado. What with XM radio MLB broadcasts and the cable TV MLB package, I miss a lot of regular news during the baseball season. “I’z better off!” :mrgreen:

  • Cubs in 09

    …you will find out how bullish I am on the good old USA.

    [APPLAUSE] :D

    I think it was after RFK’s assassination that Rose Kennedy was quoted as saying, “I shall not be vanished.”

    I think we should all adopt that attitude. We’ve survived much worse as a nation. USA! USA! USA!

    BTW… I read or saw a while back that the Iraqi stock market is doing quite well. Good for them!

    • Cubs in 09

      :oops: vanished vanquished

      What does that Freudian slip mean?!

  • Cubs in 09

    Since this is an open thread… Did you notice how I managed to work a little baseball into the conversation? :mrgreen:

  • Karma

    Yesterday, when the softball question that the female reporter asked had just been answered by a rambling Obama. I joked that Obama was just like Bush and spewed all his new talking points in the first answer.

    Sure enough, Obama/Bush II has reporters lobbing prepared softballs at him.

    Of course, this isn’t news to NQ….it’s just news that it actually made it in print somewhere. ;)

    http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/26/obama-beats-record-press-conferences/

    “In his four press conferences, Mr. Obama has called on 22 reporters, including Lynn Sweet from his hometown paper, the Chicago Sun-Times, who asked four questions and he answered each one. He took six questions Monday, just four questions Tuesday and three on Wednesday.

    Some are grumbling that Obama transition aides preselected the reporters who would be allowed questions.”

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