Reply #21: One important thing you forgot to note . . .

[caseymoz]

And I wonder why so many people miss this.

The US prosperity after WWII had a lot to do with the fact that we were the only major economy still standing. We were selling things all over the world.

Another factor in that might have been the CIA having set up "friendly" regimes on the US payroll who let our industries cut sweet deals. A strong dollar, the strongest currency in the world, made this possible.

Since then, the world has rebuilt itself. Nations are no longer just our sources of raw materials, or buyers of our products; they are competitive with us. Meanwhile, the dollar is not the super-currency it was in the post-war years, meaning our foreign ventures, including putting dictators in power and paying them off, are less viable and prohibitively expensive. This isn't helped by the fact that resentment has built up in those countries.

So, the US is in decline. And it really wasn't our national ideals or our exceptionalism that put us on top in the first place. It's only that our lucky streak has ended.