Jay Soloman and Siobhan Gorman have an interesting piece in today’s WSJ entitled, “Financial Crisis May Diminish American Sway.”
Your first reaction might be “Ya think?” followed by “What can we do about it?” I think a better reaction might be “So what?” Being the world’s only remaining superpower — and $3.75 — will get you a grande latte at most Starbucks nowadays.
Or put another way, a defense budget the size of the rest of the world’s put together (a point they make) and $3 – 5 trillion (Bilmes – Stiglitz estimate) get you a debacle in the Middle East. Why is this good for the average US citizen, not to mention those of the rest of the world?
Of course the timing of the Defense reform anthology edited by Mr. Winslow Wheeler of the Straus Reform Project could not be timed better (release on November 12, 2008). Please go back and read the article linked above from the Wall Street Journal. If you have not read Limits of Power by Andy Bacevich, it is worth a trip to Amazon.com to pick it up, but if you don’t like the truth, don’t buy it.
Don
Don Vandergriff 