Empire Over Economy: 'US may follow in USSR footsteps'

[The Northerner]

The US could collapse like the USSR, because it pursues futile military policies at the expense of economy, says Clyde Prestowitz, ex-Counselor to the Secretary of Commerce in the Reagan Administration. He thinks this track is risky and destructive.

[patrice]

1. Uh . . . since SuperPACs can contain FOREIGN money, whom might we guess is betting on Rmoney?

[On the Road]

2. OK, Let's Compare the Economy of the US Now

to the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Just two peas in a pod, right?

[patrice]

3. Alike or not, does that establish that the U.S. economy can't, in it's own way, get so far out of

balance that continued and increasing military budgets could at least make it worse?

I'm not an economist, so describing just exactly how that could happen exceeds my abilities, but are you saying it's impossible?

[On the Road]

7. The US Certainly *Could* Overextend Itself

by empire building, but the most recent wave peaked under Bush. Now that burden is receding, and there is not much of an appetite for further military adventures.

Even at its peak, the military drain on the US is nothing like the drain that the late Soviet Union experienced. Not just because of total cost, but because the Soviet economy as a whole was bloated, dysfunctional, and did not modernize to keep up with the West. The whole central planning process didn't work in Russia any better than it did elsewhere. There was no homeless or unemployment problem, but at the cost of food lines and widespread shortages of very basic consumer products.

By contrast, the US is the world's leading manufacturer, third leading exporter, and probably the greatest driver of technological progress. The currency is strong, while the ruble was considered almost worthless. Despite the US deficits, the national debt is still below a lot of European countries.

The US and Soviet economies should really not even be in the same conversation. But it's kind of what I would expect from RT.

[patrice]

8. Thanks

[xtraxritical]

6. Afghanistan's taking us the same place it took the Soviets.

Osama's laughing with the fishes!

[Turbineguy]

4. At least the Soviets

had vodka as an excuse.

[Mr.Turnip]

5. Russia Today predicts the breakup of the United States every other year.

[MattSh]

9. Link?

Or just some good old RT bashing?