Is the USA really in economic decline???

[Guest Adam Smith]

http://www.instrategy.com/pdf/Empire040303.pdf

This highly influential report has been produced by Independent Strategy and is being circulated around fund managers in Europe as an argument as to why they should not invest in US stocks and shares.

Independent Strategy is a respectable research organisation, and usually they get things right. But this time I think they've got it wrong and I need some convincing reasons why this current report just doesn't hang together. Would appreciate any help (my deadline's 23rd Jan).

PS will understand if the reaction is "do your own research" but I just thought an American perspective might throw up some points I've missed (I'm based in Europe).

[RadCap]

ANDREW

Posting under a different nic will not protect you from your reputation here. It will not grant you the undeserved. Your perspective on America is known by your own words on this forum (ie in relation to the dark ages):

"Capitalism forever (talking about the dark ages): Witch hunts ... inquisition ... decade-long wars among feudal kingdoms ... the refusal to bathe and the resulting epidemics ... if that isn't dark enough, I don't know what is.

andrew: Capitalism - are you describing the 1930s, the 1960s or today?"

Your attempt to deceive, combined with your previous views, IDENTIFY you not as someone who honestly seeks knowledge, but as someone who is trolling.

We do not view gadflies kindly here.

[Capitalism Forever]

Ha! That pretty much confirms the suspicion I had about the intentions of this poster when I looked at the report he linked. Although the author of the report attempts to give the impression that he is a pro-capitalist who thinks America is a "good empire," his use of phrases such as:

• "The US empire is cresting"
  
• "Its key alliances are weakening"
  
• "The war against Iraq will [result in something negative]" (emphasis mine)
  
• projecting US power in the world"
  
• "the beginning of the decline of American power"
  
• "great civilizations have a way of cresting that is pretty well set in historical stone"
  
• "deepening mistrust of the US"
  
• "unsustainable living standards"
  
• "unilateralism"
  
• "oil supplies [...] stretched"
  
• "Europe and Japan [...] became stinking rich despite rejecting the empire's economic model"
  
• "occupation"
  
• "the Iraq war and aftermath will increase Islamic extremism and terrorism"
  
• "as Saudi Arabia becomes more unstable and hostile"
  
• "This is what the US achieved by naming North Korea as part of the 'axis of evil'"
  
• "US policy seems to disregard other democracies"
  
• "enflames the issue of US dominance at the level of street politics"
  
• "the 'for or against the US' issue"
  
• "to blitz Iraq"
  
• "when one side has all the firepower, the only response is terrorism"
  

makes his attempt ridiculously transparent.

[Guest Adam Smith]

Dear "Red Cap"

The reason I chose a neutral nom de plume was because of your previous personal attacks upon me and my concern not to let that get in the way of discussing the issues and arguments of what is a genuine report commissioned by the financial services industry and being circulated among fund managers in the leading western economies. I am genuinely interested in your views and the views of others on this site about this report (and yes, that includes "falafel" whom I disagree with on almost everything - but I am still interested in what he has to say).

I am not anti-American and I am appalled by the report and I do intend to write a professional response to it - but it has to be a reasoned response, not just abusive invective. You should attack arguments, never the people who make them.

Why are you so angry?

And a question to David Veksler - why do you have a debating forum on your site when independent contributions are stifled by abuse? A debating forum where everyone has the same viewpoint is a debate among the dead.

Regards,

Adam Smith

PS when I used my real name I was anticipating being treated with some degree of respect and good-manners - it is disappointing to find this is not the case.

For the record, I am interested in Objectivism but not entirely convinced by it. Some of Ayn Rand's ideas are intelligent and valid, but I am not convinced by the whole package. Perhaps I may be one day, or perhaps I will never be entirely convinced. I reserve the right to decide for myself without being browbeaten into conformity.