The Decline of the West

One hundred or even fifty years ago, the world was a very different place. Fifty years ago the age of Colonialism was just coming to an end. Most of the European countries—Great Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands--had had colonies in Africa, Asia, and the New World; and 50 years ago the last of those countries were gaining their independence.

So the age of European nations dominating their colonies was not that long ago. At about that time I saw the handwriting on the wall and foresaw that the era of the dominance of the White Man (Europeans and Americans) would come to an end at some point, and maybe within my lifetime.

Well, there are signs that it is, at least in the economic view. The US and other western nations have transferred enormous sums of money to Middle Eastern countries as payment for oil. So the tallest buildings in the world are now in the Middle East and Asia, not in the US. And China is on track to surpass the US and become the world's largest economy.

If you haven't noticed how much of what you buy says "Made in China" on it, I suggest you look at one of those terminals where shipping containers are transferred from trains to trucks. Then you can get some idea of the amount of commerce we have (mainly importing) with China.

In a sense—aside from what we pay for imports—China owns the United States. That's because they buy our government's debt, and the US economy would collapse if China ever stopped buying or sold what it already owns.

The US and its stock markets still make up more than half of the world's equities. I think it's something like 52%. But the volume of all the foreign exchanges has been catching up.

What much of the world perceives as the arrogance of the US is going to be harder and harder to justify as we become less and less able to call the shots for all the rest of the world.

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein