[quote=KSMountain][quote=partypup]
The pressure of being a super power is too great to bear.[/quote]
For whom?
[quote=partypup]
Time to step down and let someone else carry that load [/quote]
Wow, how inspiring. That’s the spirit! Got any candidate nations in mind? One you think will do as good or better than the U.S. has since say 1944?

So sad the defeatism. Perhaps you actually hope for the chaotic future you predict, thinking that this will increase the value of your gold holdings. Seems a cold comfort.[/quote]

Perhaps you think that by continuing to denial what is now inevitable will give you some cold comfort. Look, you can fight the wave or you can roll with it. I happen to think this is a wave that has been building for a long time, and whatever the merits of being a superpower and regardless of how well the U.S. has performed that job up until now, the point is that the cycle has ended, and our time at the top of the heap is over. And no, I don’t think that’s such a bad thing in the long run. I’m sorry you would prefer to cling to the rotted hulk of what was once a great nation. I prefer to reset and re-boot and hope we can come up with something better in the process. You apparently have trouble accepting the fact that something valuable can come out of a system reboot. You apparently don’t believe that Americans can take the pain and are not resourceful and vibrant enough to reject the greed and excess that brought us to this place and forge a BETTER future. And your lack of faith is truly what is defeatist.

Stop clinging to the past and accept your future. And in the process of accepting it, you might consider actually preparing for it. Because nostalgia isn’t going to pay your bills or feed your face.