The end of U.S.A.

Harvard Prof: U.S. Empire in Decline

Thursday, October 22, 2009 By: Dan Weil

The United States’ growing debt burden means the American empire is on the decline while China is on the rise, says Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson. “People have predicted American decline in the past. . . and been wrong,” he told Yahoo! News. “But let’s face it. If you’re trying to borrow $9 trillion to bail out your financial system and economy and already half your public debt is held by foreigners, it’s not really the conduct of a rising empire, is it?” He compared the United States to Spain in the 17th century and Britain in the 20th. “Excessive debt is usually a predictor of subsequent trouble.” The government debt burden is expected to total 56 percent of GDP this year. While the U.S. is fading, China is rising, Ferguson says. “There is a fundamental relationship between economic change and political change,” he points out. “When China's economy is equal in size to that of the U.S., which could be as soon as 2027. . . it means not only that China is a major economic competitor — it's that already. It then becomes a diplomatic competitor and a military competitor." Legendary investor Jim Rogers also sees the U.S. losing its economic hegemony. Part of that slide will include an abandonment of the dollar as the world’s primary reserve currency, he told Moneynews.com. “The dollar is a terribly flawed currency” Rogers said. “We’re the biggest debtor nation in the history of the world.” http://www.tinfoilfedora.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/us-military-bases-troops-around-the-world.jpg © 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.