DAILY DIALECTIC
February 18, 2009
"As the crisis deepens, it will permanently and profoundly alter the country's economic landscape. I believe it marks the end of a chapter in American economic history, and indeed, the end of a whole way of life. ... 'One thing seems probable to me,' said Peer Steinbruck, the German finance minister, in September 2008. As a result of the crisis, 'the United States will lose its status as the superpower of the global financial system.' You don't have to strain too hard to see the financial crisis as the death knell for a debt-ridden, overconsuming, and underproducing American empire — the fall long prophesied by Paul Kennedy and others...."

  • How the crash will reshape America