If I had waited another day before posting on the future of democracy, I could have had the benefit of reading about Dr. Doom, aka Nouriel Roubini. Roubini is an economist who has been issuing similarly pessimistic warnings about the future of America for several years.
In a recent post on his blog (registration required), Roubini says the “American empire” is in decline for three reasons. First, it “squandered its power by relying excessively on its hard military power in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan,” rather than using “diplomacy and multilateralist approaches.” Second, other countries and regions such as China, Russia, India, and the European Union are catching up. Third, “the US squandered its economic and financial power by running reckless economic policies, especially its twin fiscal and current account deficits.”
I’d like to think that’s pretty much what I said last week. For what it’s worth, I disagree about a few details. I don’t consider Russia to be an economic or political rival. It is not capitalistic enough — property rights are not secure and its economy is based more on crony capitalism than true capitalism. It is growing fast enough, but most of the benefits of that growth go to those at the top.
