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Pondering the Rise and Fall of Economic Empires

They say that all empires are doomed to fall, and there are a great number of people out there who say that the United States economic empire will fall soon enough. But does the American economy really qualify as a financial empire doomed to fall, or more as a financial empire that, when challenged, has the potential to grow ever stronger and possibly even help other national economies along with it? Depending on your political biases, future events could either sink the U.S. economy or propel it to ever-higher heights.

Some look at the potential fall of the United States economy with something approaching glee. At the same time, they probably have little idea on how dependent the rest of the world is not only on the performance of the American economy, but the economies of the European Union, Japan, and other smaller and emerging markets. A consequence of globalization is that more than ever, economic changes in one country can have disastrous effects abroad. Will changes lead to another Depression? Well, we can certainly hope not.

But there are no guarantees in life, let alone in economics. You can dislike the United States all you want, but if the U.S. financial ?empire? falls, you?re more than likely going to be affected even if you are a lowly farmer. The more you hope for mutual good performance in this era, the better it will be for all.