Wasting Away: America's "Superpower" Status

German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck blames Anglo-American banking and financial domination for the current global economic slowdown and financial crisis, according to MarketWatch.

Steinbrueck believes that the American pursuit of near-term profits undermined long-term stability. He also predicted that, due to its poor stewardship, the U.S. would see its status as an economic superpower diminish. “The U.S. will lose its status as the superpower of the global financial system, not abruptly but it will erode,” Steinbrueck said.

Minister Steinbrueck is not the first to warn that U.S. dominance was coming to an end. The “insane drive for higher and higher profits” is partly to blame for the current crisis, as free-market policies created a distinct and unstable imbalance between those collecting profits and those not. Steinbrueck also criticized the inability to regulate markets and said he would push for a global ban on “speculative short-selling” at the next Group of Seven conference.

Europe will not need to organize a bailout similar to the staggering $700 billion package hastily thrown together by the Bush administration last weekend, according to Steinbrueck. While an economic slowdown may lean toward recession in Europe, the financial crisis is – in his eyes – an “American problem.”

Many Americans try to ignore the truth that the U.S. has lost its privileged position in the world. Our economy is unproductive; the American standard of living is dependent on foreign imports. It took over 200 years for the United States to accrue its first $5 trillion in national debt. It has taken just eight years to more than double that number. In order to maintain its operation, the government must borrow stupendous amounts from foreign nations, handing the keys to our economy over to countries that are our direct competitors.

The U.S. stands to lose more than just its status as an economic superpower. It could witness the end of its reign atop all of the world’s podiums. The U.S. educational system began to flounder in the 1980s and is now soundly beaten by many other developed nations. U.S. manufacturing was dealt a death-blow in the 1990s by the formation of NAFTA and the WTO. The U.S. military is stretched thin in dozens of bases around the world while actively waging two separate wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, the unregulated corruption of mortgage lenders, investment banks and financiers has undermined our economy on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.

It would take a Herculean effort on the part of every citizen of this country to put the U.S. back atop the world pecking order. The government would need to serve the people instead of lobbyists and corrupt businesses. Americans would need to live within their means and stop spending themselves into insurmountable credit debts. The major political parties would have to stop the infighting which has turned Congress into a quagmire. This country has, in the past, proven itself capable of meeting any challenge. The great, grand and profitable resource which was handed to us by past generations has been frivolously frittered away. We will have to sweat to earn it back.

Source MarketWatch:

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