What Difference Will the Election Make to the Rest of the World?

We think of ourselves as the guardian of democracy and liberty. We like to think of ourselves as the only world super power, but then complain about having to be the world's policemen. Perception and reality are drifting apart. Our claim to be the world only super power is quite tarnished. We have allowed ourselves to become so dependent on the new super powers.

We are in the middle of a great transference of wealth in the world. Cities such as New York and Chicago used to be centers of commerce, now the city is Dubai. Our country is broke. We are operating a debt based society. Both political parties are quibbling over money we don't have. You can't be a super power when your check book is in the red.

We think of ourselves as the guardian of democracy and liberty. We like to think of ourselves as the only world super power, but then complain about having to be the world's policemen. Perception and reality are drifting apart. Our claim to be the world only super power is quite tarnished. We have allowed ourselves to become so dependent on the new super powers.

We are in the middle of a great transference of wealth in the world. Cities such as New York and Chicago used to be centers of commerce, now the city is Dubai. Our country is broke. We are operating a debt based society. Both political parties are quibbling over money we don't have. You can't be a super power when your check book is in the red.

Most of our manufacturing has headed overseas. We chose to support lower wages at the cost of American jobs. Now we complain when our jobs don't pay what they used to. The fact that we require such a large quantity of our finished goods and materials to come from overseas has made us vulnerable to the practices of other countries. Recently there have been several examples, one being the problems with salmonella contamination of fruits and vegetables, the latest being jalapeno peppers.

Our economic engine is being sold off piece meal. The latest example is Anheuser-Busch which was recently sold to beer giant InBev. Both companies used the term partnership, but the fact is that Bud is now wholly owned by a company located in a foreign country. The new board for InBev has two members from A-B. Decision concerning this brand and the people in St. Louis and elsewhere that make it will be made outside of the US. The world HQ will still be in St. Louis for now, but that might change in the future as InBev moves ahead.

Lastly, we have become an energy slave to the oil producing countries. Evidence of that is the push to drill more holes in search of a new fix. We are jonesing for oil in the worst way. We are so dependent that we can't see any other solution other than turning over the couch in search of a stray butt we might still be able to get a drag off of.

What do we bring to the world table? The biggest thing we bring is military might. We can put an army anyplace it's needed. The issues really is what need will they be fighting for? Will pressure be put on our country to continue to fight foreign wars with muddy causes? Will our soldiers becomes pawns in a global war of the rich? Will the creditors put pressure on our country to commit troops to fight wars that are of more benefit to them than to the security of the US? The basic question is if our security has been co-opted by our massive debt?

Who we elect will make little difference to the rest of the world. As long as we don't launch our nukes and continue to borrow money at breakneck speed, who signs the IOUs is of little concern. Before you question my logic and point out all the difference between Obama and McSame, consider what impact an embargo to energy or imports would have? What would happen, how many instant layoff would there be? Think about how the balance of power would change. The 1974 embargo shifted the power from the seller to the producer. The oil companies lost the lead to the countries that have the oil and the world was changed forever.

I do think that we have a better chance of changing our reality if we elect Obama. Maybe then we will see the return of humility and common sense. Once we deflate our collective ego and look realistically at the problems before us, we can maybe finally start work on fixing them.