THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

All of the great empires of the world have eventually fallen under their own weight. I don't think I'll be alive too see the fall of the American Empire but my children might and, more likely, their children will. We are just devouring too much of the world for it to last. Take note of the following statistics.

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that is experiencing significant population growth - most of it by illegal immigration. Our population will reach 300 million by the end of this week. We have 5% of the world's population but we consume 23% of its energy, 15% of its meat, 28% of its paper, 13% of the oil and we have 23% of the automobiles; each person in the US uses about 1,700 gallons of water a year while the rest of the world uses only 600 gallons per person; each person in the US produces about 1800 lbs of garbage a year while our friends in Europe produce only 1000 lbs and those in developing countries produce less than 800 lbs per year; each US citizen produces about 20 tons of carbon dioxide per year while the rest of the world produces only 4 tons per person. Of those 300 million people in our country, over 50 million of them are obese. The 400 richest people in the country have a net worth of more than a billion dollars each.

Capitalism, which built the US into the most dynamic and powerful country in the world, is now moving it inexorably into the the next logical stage. Our appitite grows and grows while we make fewer and fewer products ourselves. The manufacturing base of our country is moving to Pacific Rim countries with their low wages and lax worker standards. We have become too rich to make things for ourselves. Because of this, huge amounts of US currency and bonds are in the hands of the rest of the world. Like most individuals in the country, the country itself is up to its ears in debt.

We have built too large a military and stockpiled too many weapons for any country to conquer us right now. No matter, this country might fall without a shot being fired. We are eating the world and it can't last. In the year 2106, a best seller will be The Rise and Fall of the American Empire.