The empire's premature epitaph (Stop Me Before I Vote Again)

The empire's premature epitaph

By Michael J. Smith on Thursday February 1, 2007 02:57 PM

The mighty must fall... overreach... bankrupcy ... uncle's comeuppance will come. But in our lifetime? Don't count on it.

This obvious cerebration was prompted by reading a piece by the ever more delightful Chalmers Johnson

http://www.tomdispatch.com/

Johnson has learned, in the golden setting sun years of his life, just how vast and naughty Uncle's empire has become over the last 60 years, and in his Blowback trilogy, he puts ole Sam through quite a nice pranging.

But it's really too fatalistic, and as a result, despite its fin-de-civilization Weltschmerz, actually far too optimistic. Start with this quote he grabs from one Anatol Lieven:

U.S. global power, as presently conceived by the overwhelming majority of the U.S. establishment, is unsustainable. . . The empire can no longer raise enough taxes or soldiers, it is increasingly indebted, and key vassal states are no longer reliable. . . The result is that the empire can no longer pay for enough of the professional troops it needs to fulfill its self-assumed imperial tasks.

This is plain garden-party nonsense. Poor Chucky may have a nice hand with the research lamp -- from here and there and everywhere, he can locate the boils of empire like a pig finds truffles -- but he's got no head for global economics.

After a solemn accounting of the details of our near half-trillion imperial security budget, and of our massive $800 billion trade gap, and our Asian finance plan, and our reckless tax-free Babbit profit fantasia, he concludes:

... if the American people do not find a way to choose democracy over empire -- at least our imperial venture will end not with a nuclear bang but a financial whimper.

But sir, it simply won't. Given uncle's unique place at the head of the table, Wall Street can weather any conceivable national or global depression -- weather it in a purely economic sense, I mean.

Nope, barring a meteor sent by Yahweh himself, I fear Uncle's show has a long long run ahead of it. "No one can stop us now, baby" -- at least not till we cross over the far horizon where, yes indeed, the huge indefinite shape of a nemesis surely waits. But hey, mates, that horizon must be measured in half-century units -- unless we the teeming weebles find a way to put a stop to this Barnum-and-Bailey style grand guignol by blowing a few main boilers here at home.

Posted by Michael J. Smith on Thursday February 1, 2007 02:57 PM | Permalink

Comments (8)

owen paine:

five bucks to anyone who knows what
the hell i 'm saying here:

"unless we the teeming weebles find a way to put a stop to this Barnum-and-BaileyThe empire's premature epitaph style grand guignol by blowing a few main boilers here at home"

the B&B circus train seems to have collided with the edgar alan P-town express

Posted by owen paine | February 1, 2007 5:36 PM

Posted on February 1, 2007 17:36

MJS:

Whoops. Fixed it now.

Posted by MJS | February 1, 2007 5:58 PM

Posted on February 1, 2007 17:58

owen paine:

father smiff must be brakin'
in a new....acolyte

Posted by owen paine | February 1, 2007 7:24 PM

Posted on February 1, 2007 19:24

royal weeee: