“The world is about to be a much sorrier place”
Elizabeth Wurtzel grieves the passing of American power:
But the scary thing is not what will happen to individuals — although a jobless, miserable mass is a very sullen thought — but what this economic crash says about America. Anyone who is not too drunk with despair (or drink) right now knows that this all signals a bigger realignment, that our place — our significance — in the world is diminishing.
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This is a state of affairs that ought to leave not just us, but the entire world, deeply stricken with grief. In the history of empire — or superpower or hyperpower — no country has ever wielded its dominance as gently and judiciously as the United States has. Even those abroad and afar who feel they suffered as a result of American foreign policy ought to know that this planet as a whole will fare far worse under China or whatever country comes next …