Tuesday, October 21, 2008

THE SICK MAN OF NORTH AMERICA


By Eric Margolis

"Toronto October 20, 2008

An empire built on debt, is an empire built on sand.

The US government now owes a staggering $10 trillion. American consumers owe $14 trillion. Welcome to the United States of debt. Twenty-four trillion dollars is a gargantuan sum, even for the mighty US economy. It is now clear that America’s once lauded `prosperity’ was built on runaway debt rather than productivity or innovation.

At the end of the 19th Century, the dying, debt-ridden Ottoman Empire became known as `the sick man of Europe.’ Under the Bush administration, the United States has become the Sick Man of North America.......

A world with more balanced, diffused power may be preferable. But such profound historical change is always dangerous and unpredictable. Right now, China looks like top dog. Mao must be smiling.

Who would have ever imagined the `godless Red Chinese hordes’ would end up propping up America’s sleazy economy? "

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