http://www.democracyandsociety.com/blog/2010/02/07/rumors-of-americas-death-are-exaggerated/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rumors-of-americas-death-are-exaggerated Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:57:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.democracyandsociety.com/blog/2010/02/07/rumors-of-americas-death-are-exaggerated/comment-page-1/#comment-526 Barak Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:00:30 +0000 http://www.democracyandsociety.com/blog/?p=1311#comment-526 These are good points. I also think that the economic competition would be good for the US. The worst reaction would be to turn inwards and protect ourselves from outside economic challenges. These are good points. I also think that the economic competition would be good for the US. The worst reaction would be to turn inwards and protect ourselves from outside economic challenges.

]]> http://www.democracyandsociety.com/blog/2010/02/07/rumors-of-americas-death-are-exaggerated/comment-page-1/#comment-525 David Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:35:16 +0000 http://www.democracyandsociety.com/blog/?p=1311#comment-525 I always believed the idea of America’s decline was misleading and something that sounds scarier than the reality. It’s probably true that America’s relative power will decline, but I don’t see how that inevitably hurts us. Maybe we tend to associate the word “decline” with falling back or losing something, but I would think that whatever the state of the Chinese economy fifty years from now, or however many aircraft carriers they have – the standard of living in the United States will only be better than it is right now. Perhaps we will lose the ability to project our power unchallenged in quite so many places, but those interventions aren’t always in our best interest anyway. Likewise, losing relative economic bargaining power, and being less able to push our oil and agricultural interests on the rest of the world, may hurt special interests in the United States, but it would actually be beneficial to the average citizen. The idea of America’s “death” brings up images of the Roman Empire reverting to tribal society after being sacked by weaker civilizations, but I don’t know of any modern, industrial society that hasn’t seen a consistent increase in living standards despite fluctuations in its relative power. Germany and Japan were both flattened, and both have citizens living better off today than they were sixty years ago. So when we talk about America’s decline, we should ask “which Americans’ decline?” and, should we really care? I always believed the idea of America’s decline was misleading and something that sounds scarier than the reality. It’s probably true that America’s relative power will decline, but I don’t see how that inevitably hurts us. Maybe we tend to associate the word “decline” with falling back or losing something, but I would think that whatever the state of the Chinese economy fifty years from now, or however many aircraft carriers they have – the standard of living in the United States will only be better than it is right now. Perhaps we will lose the ability to project our power unchallenged in quite so many places, but those interventions aren’t always in our best interest anyway. Likewise, losing relative economic bargaining power, and being less able to push our oil and agricultural interests on the rest of the world, may hurt special interests in the United States, but it would actually be beneficial to the average citizen. The idea of America’s “death” brings up images of the Roman Empire reverting to tribal society after being sacked by weaker civilizations, but I don’t know of any modern, industrial society that hasn’t seen a consistent increase in living standards despite fluctuations in its relative power. Germany and Japan were both flattened, and both have citizens living better off today than they were sixty years ago. So when we talk about America’s decline, we should ask “which Americans’ decline?” and, should we really care?

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