The Unbearable Costs of Empire

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The Unbearable Costs of Empire

Thu Jul 29, 8:20 AM ET Add Business - BusinessWeek Online to My Yahoo!



Since September 11, 2001, the phrases "American empire" and "America as an imperial power" are being heard a lot more. But in contrast to the 1960s and 1970s, when such terms were brandished by an angry domestic anti-war movement or by developing nations in U.N. debates, the concept they represent has now at least partially entered the mainstream. However much it has incurred hostility throughout most of the world, including European and other countries usually allied with the U.S., the "new imperialism" has gained ground among the Establishment here.


The post-9/11 rationale is that America has terrorist enemies and rogue states that will do it serious harm -- maybe even with weapons of mass destruction -- if it doesn't police the world to stop them. "Being an imperial power is more than being the most powerful nation," writes Michael Ingatieff at Harvard's Kennedy Center. "It means enforcing such order as there is in the world and doing so in the American interest."


But what most analysts have missed --- whether or not they support the idea of an American empire -- is that the U.S. simply can't afford the role of global cop.


THE REAL DEBT. First, the U.S. is entering this new age of empire with a gross federal debt that is the highest in more than 50 years as a percentage of gross domestic product. For fiscal 2005, which begins in October, the U.S. gross federal debt is projected to be $8.1 trillion, or 67.5% of GDP (news - web sites). By the time 100,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam in 1965, it was 46.9% and falling.


One technical point that's vitally important here: It's the gross federal debt and deficits that matter, not the smaller "debt held by the public" and "unified budget deficit" that are generally cited in the press. For example, the most commonly reported estimate of the annual federal budget deficit is $478 billion for 2004. But this number is misleading, because it doesn't include borrowing from federal trust funds -- mostly Social Security (news - web sites) and Medicare.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/bw/20040729/bs_bw/nf200407299971db045&e=2

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