A has-been nation

The nation that once sent a man to the moon now relies on European and Russian spacecraft to get men and materials to its "International Space Station".

So it goes, as the United States vies to become the new Ottoman Empire, complete with foreign ownership of what few assets haven't already been unbolted and carted off carte blanche to foreign locales and foreign powers dictating who our military enemies can be. The inevitable result of this progress is the impoverishment of the nation and the eventual dissolution of the military power that holds empire together.

It took 250 years for the Ottoman Empire to spin down from its peak in the 1680's to its eventual dissolution in 1922. But today's world seems to be moving much faster. Watch this space... well, as long as you don't need an American rocket to get here, in which case you'll be a long time waitin'.

-- Badtux the Economics Penguin