[GogaMegaPis]

heh the US is in decline due to our spending, and debt.

Agreed that we are in perhaps a temporary decline, due to debt and spending more than we make. But the decline that I have experienced in my own life line goes much deeper than debt and spending. Debt is only one aspect or symptom of the decline, but not necessarily the perp here. Debt tends to be a temporary thing, and it rises and falls over time. We are just in a time of rising, with no economic boom right around the corner to bring debt back into line. It might be difficult to grow ourselves out of this blossoming debt, given the shape of the economic world today, with the rise of China, that we added growth hormones and fertilizer to.....that will bite us in the proverbial ass with time. And perhaps this new era that we helped to create will be the beginnings of the "Crazy Years" as foretold by Heinlein. This new era where one Nation "self guts" itself, in the chase of personal profits is a prerequisite for the crazy years. We are doing things economically today, that our fathers would have seen as crazy as batshit. So "crazy years" is a very apt term, as it arises from being rather insane, driven by the intoxication of short term profits.

It is very clear that the US is in decline and has a new Nation more than poised and ready to come into its power. No doubt in my mind that China has made long term plans to pull this off. And will, unless we see major changes in the economic policy of this nation we call home. China needed a lot of help to get their own ball rolling, and the US was more than willing to cut our own throats, as there was short term money to be made by doing so. The drive for more profits was an Achilles Heel that the astute Chinese could and did use, against us. Of course the Chinese had to wait until we got off of the FDR manner of running an economy, and moved towards the Repub model that was more friendly to China's plans. The Repub model allowed for offshoring, to increase the profits of the few, and this is what China needed, in order to begin their own take over of production, that slave labor is a key ingredient in order to pull off.

Once that the US no longer protected its industry, and its own working people, all bets were off. We are being played like a banjo in a redneck bar. The lust for more profits is our weakness, that had to be turned against us, in order to knock us off of the top of the mound.

I am convinced that what was needed for China to rise, was the change in our own economic policy that was instituted post WW2, and then changed by the Repubs starting with Reagen, and continuing onward, although downward, since that time. Where post WW2, having just suffered the Great Depression, gov't acted upon behalf of the People, and this played an important role in our economic model. We were concerned with the masses of Americans, more so than being concerned with the few elites. And we operated with that mindset for many decades,which created the America of my youth, and the most powerful Nation on this earth. You cannot separate our past economic models from our ascent, although the Repubs apparently don't agree, given that they changed what worked so well, for so long.

I think that if one can look at the decline of the US objectively, it is clear that we got to where we are today, due to Repubs coming back into power, and changing up the goals of our economy. We moved from enriching ALL to concentrating on only enriching a few, having embraced trickle down economics. I have no doubt in my own mind that our decline lies with the fact that both Dems and Repubs deserted the economic model that created the America of the 50's and 60's. And I have no doubt that we cannot save ourselves unless we go back to what we know works, and while it would not be perfect, it is a damn site better than what the Repubs have given us. Their ways don't work! The evidence is all around us and is clear. If one puts the objective lens in their glasses.

So, IMO, the decline of America is due to the Repubs going back to an earlier failed model. Repubs don't read history, they rewrite it, later on. But the sad news is the current mess is what THAT model yields. When you concentrate the wealth in the hands of the few, so that some might trickle down, it not only goes against common sense, it should be a crime of sorts. This model is parasitic, and it inevitably kills the host. This ain't rocket science, its the dirt of the earth. The thing is, most of us are divorced from the dirt of the earth these days. We replace reality with another reality of our own, that matches our personal ideology better. But, we are not grounded when we do this. And the effects will be something no one will like, later on, when the light of day illuminates our stupidity. By then, it will perhaps be too late to effect change.