Unfettered Anglo-Saxon capitalism is finding it difficult to cope with the present and may not be the unstoppable wave of the future that cheerleaders on the political right like to suggest. After the collapse of the USSR the U.S. was the undisputed military superpower after 1989. But military power does not lead to economic power. A country like the U.S. can be a military superpower for a long time even as it s economic might wanes. Rome was in this position.
Economic rot leads to military weakness at the periphery, but the time lags are sometimes very long.
History is clear on this. While military power can sometimes outlast economic power for centuries, eventually military power depends upon having a successful economic base. America s success in the Gulf War proves that the U.S. will be a military superpower in the next century. But its success in the Gulf in no way guarantees that it will be an economic superpower in the 21 st century. At the end of WWII an intense debate raged as to what should be done about the Japanese and German economies.