One uncomfortable explanation for our economic condition...

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

For all of my life America has been rich, and we still are.

We have an incredibly high standard of living by global standards.

We 300 million consume a third or a half or whatever it is of the resources in a world of six billion.

Absent global colonial oppression how could anyone expect us to retain that position?

Of course our standard of living is going down. How could it not?

What is best for human beings in general is probably not best for America citizens.

I do not want a lower standard of living, but hasn't the writing always been on the wall?

Our modern expectations of American wealth were born during a post-WWII period when the US had almost all the world's wealth. How could we not decline from such an unsustainable imbalance?

(Bonus question: How much of what wealth we maintain is maintained by our vast military power, versus our entrepenurial genius?)

Added on edit: Even if one accepts that net American wealth must, having reached imbalanced levels, decline in the natural ebb and flow of history that does not mean that things must get worse for average Americans, at least in a 50-100 year time frame. A more equitable distribution of what wealth we have would raise up people on the bottom so that the average person could do better even as the American slice of the pie diminishes.

Discuss.