The graph above tells the story. An empire is in inevitable decline and American hegemony is slipping away.
The latest US unemployment figures showing a loss of 131,000 jobs and joblessness locked in 9.5% tell only part of the story. Hat tip to the Calculated Risk blog, which did that graph and which presents its stats showing that the unemployment crisis in America this time around is longer and deeper than previous recessions. Welcome to the new normal.
The New York Times gives a chilling picture of what an empire in decline looks like.
All around America, business and government are not only sending their workers off on unpaid leave, otherwise labelled as furlough. Schools in Hawaii have started doing it to their kids, closing schools on 17 Fridays during the past school year to save money. This has given students the shortest academic year in America and has forced working parents to find alternative means of care for their children. Transit systems have been cut and in Colorado Springs, they switched off a third of the city's 24,512 streetlights to save money on electricity. According to the Los Angeles Times, Utah is planning to make Year 12 optional for students in order to cut costs. They city fathers also trimmed the police force and auctioned off police helicopters. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that paved roads are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel and other rough surfaces to save money.
The American empire is now in inexorable decline. Economic and political power is irrevocably shifting east, to China in particular and that will reshape the world.
Last month, I did a blog entry looking at the decline of the American empire with some forecasters warning it will create lawlessness, militias and the end of social security and pensions in America.
If the latest developments are anything to go by, we might be seeing the beginnings of that.
no comment untill now