Let me attempt to respond to the points in the article in order:

1. As someone born and raised behind the iron curtain, let me tell you the SU would have absolutely expanded if the US hadn't checked it. It then still would have collapsed. But that doesn't mean that holding off the SU was not worth it. Now the way it was done is some specific instances like Vietnam, sure that execution was bad in more ways then one. But the general idea, not all bad.

2. There is room in the market for both durable durables, and disposable durables. When I was a poor student I could only afford the planned obsolescence stuff. Now that I'm a well paid C++ developer, I just spend $50+ on a kitchen knife. The damn thing better last :)

3. The American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation didn't turn me into a Libertarian, growing up behind the iron curtain did.

4. Planned obsolescence is not the only thing to be blamed for the US trade deficit. Europe and Japan rebuilt their industries from scratch. The US still had the burden of un-bombed factories.

5. Have you ever tried to join a union? It's a serious question. Not start a union, but join an existing one. Unions are not for immigrants, can you think of why?

6. "... the wholesale deindustrialization of America" Uhm, the US manufacturing is doing pretty well right now, with the cheap $. Could it be that antiquated companies were simply out competed and went bust.

7. It is worth noting that opening trade did dump a HUGE cheap labor force on the global market. That absolutely did cost some high paying jobs in the first world. But wages in China are already rising. Besides, what right do YOU have to a high paying job that someone in India does not?

8. As someone here pointed out, SUVs were very profitable for US car manufactures. One airline, I think SouthWest, saw where oil is going and hedged well. I think they are hedged for the next 10 years of something like that. As I mentioned before, the US car manufacturers should have seen the same trend in oil, but they didn't.

9. It was Gorbachev. Trust me, it was. What he didn't do was crush the protest in the Baltic states, and Poland, and East Germany right quick, not sending in the tanks sealed the SU's faith.

10. Yeah, Russia bounced back in 10 short years after a crushing fall in living standards. Don't worry, the US can do the same. We should hope it does better, but it can surely do at least as good.

11. US inflation hurts the holders of US dept and currency, guess who.

12. I have to agree with you on the neocons, those are some crazy fuckers.

13. Pressure to keep feeding the military machine doesn't just come from generals. Little towns where a military contractor is the biggest employers put a lot more pressure on.

14. Yeah NATO expands, what's a huge international bureaucracy to do, shrink? As if. Also with Russia and its sabre rattling us ex-satellite really did want to join.

15. I agree again, neocons are not only scary, they're dumb too.

16. The Fed lowered rates because of 9/11. True, should they have allowed a terrorist attack to sound the start of a recession? I would say yes, but it is not a black and white issue.

17. The US currency collapses, imports become prohibitively expensive. The standard of living drops, and then the recovery starts. Life goes on.