04/09/10 Baltimore, Maryland – “American Debt Threatens Status as World Power,” read a headline on the CBS website this morning. “Can America Still Be the World’s Greatest Power, as the World’s Greatest Borrower?” asks CBS’s foreign correspondent Lara Logan.
What a difference a financial crisis makes, eh? When we published Empire of Debt in 2005, well before the crisis reached headlines, reporters, investors, consumers, politicians, sportscasters and insurance purveyors were all asking very different questions than they are today.
Logan interviews James Baker, former secretary of State, secretary of the Treasury and all-around Bush family confidante. “We’re in a real pickle,” he says. “We will not be as important on the world scene if we continue to be a tremendously large debtor nation.”
“It’s not so much we’re declining,” Baker continues in the Logan interview, “other countries are coming up.”
China of course, leads the pack.
“China is now the largest holder of US debt,” Logan reports. “It’s also the largest exporter, and within the next five-seven years, it’s expected to surpass the US as the largest manufacturer in the world.”
This story is not remarkable for its content. Rather, it’s interesting because of who’s saying it. Sumner Redstone must be getting nervous himself. Last year, Redstone, chairman of CBS, was crowing that SpongeBob SquarePants was his most successful global brand. Wonder how it’s doing today?
Addison Wiggin
for The Daily Reckoning
Addison Wiggin
Addison Wiggin is the executive publisher of Agora Financial, LLC, a fiercely independent economic forecasting and financial research firm. He’s the creator and editorial director of Agora Financial’s daily 5 Min. Forecast and editorial director of The Daily Reckoning. Wiggin is the founder of Agora Entertainment, executive producer and co-writer of I.O.U.S.A., which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the 2009 Critics Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature, and was also shortlisted for a 2009 Academy Award. He is the author of the companion book of the film I.O.U.S.A.and his second edition of The Demise of the Dollar… and Why it’s Even Better for Your Investments was just fully revised and updated. Wiggin is a three-time New York Times best-selling author whose work has been recognized by The New York Times Magazine, The Economist, Worth, The New York Times, The Washington Post as well as major network news programs. He also co-authored international bestsellers Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt with Bill Bonner.
The Daily Reckoning is your premier source for making sense of the news Washington and Wall Street generate. Each business day, The Daily Reckoning calls on its stable of world-class writers and thinkers to show you how to get ahead.
Start your 100% FREE subscription to The Daily Reckoning today and you’ll get a free research report, “How to Survive the Fall of Social Security.” Simply enter your email address below to get your free report and join over 495,000 worldwide Daily Reckoning subscribers!
We Respect Your Privacy and We will
Never Share or Sell Your Email Address
