Stop Me Before I Vote Again

Here's a think piece on whither Pox Americana, and it roars off straight from the starting blocks:

"President Barack Obama’s first appearances outside North America – in London, Strasbourg, Prague, and Istanbul – galvanised world attention. But what that trip singularly failed to do was paper over a startling fact: the “Washington Consensus” about how the global economy should be run is now a thing of the past. The question now is what is likely to replace it."

"The Beijing consensus".

"The Obama administration is clearly moving towards the kind of government intervention that China has been promoting over the past two decades.

In this model, the government, while continuing to benefit from the international market, retains power over the economy’s “commanding heights” through strict control over the financial sector, restrictive government procurement policies, guidance for research and development in the energy sector, and selective curbs on imports of goods and services."

A pause in the offensive? A time to consolidate? Maybe even appear prepared -- some day -- to "share the spoils of empire" a little more evenly with our junior partners in the OECD?

Maybe it's the necessary remedy to neoliberal overreach, but I wouldn't recommend declaring its "come home America time" here at Laputa Magna. Turns from overt expansion, like, say, the FDR first term, always have contextual explanations.

They are eddy-like phenomena -- the prevailing trade currents will all too soon reassert themselves.