Mark Urban’s article Is the US on the decline or simply in an economic slump? was
published on the BBC News website in September 2012 (click on the link above to read the article and watch the video).
There are a lot of articles about the subject of the
US’s decline and it was one of the topics during a debate between the two presidential
candidates. For Obama, “the USA is back”; conversely, Romney thinks his country
is in decline. According to a poll, 60% to 70% of American citizens think their
country is in fact in decline.
Mark Urban evokes different aspects of the US’s
decline, beginning with the military aspect. The USA still has today a powerful army present
everywhere in the world. Obama’s point of view is that the Government has to
focus on the country itself (economy, education, health, unemployment, etc.) and spend less on arms. Obviously, his competitor Romney is against this idea: he accuses Obama of
being the cause of the decline of the USA’s power in the world.
Then, the journalist deals with the USA’s
cultural influence through Hollywood, Google, Apple, etc. With the new BRICSAM powers
getting stronger on the global scene, the USA seems to be losing that influence
on the world.
Both candidates have been sparring over trade
relations with China; Obama suggests new tariffs on Chinese car imports.
The article ends with a comparison between the USA and
Britain. Apparently, the US “Empire” is condemned to disappear, just as the
British Empire did…
This is a relevant article on such an interesting BBC post, we can see that most of Americans thinks like Romney although today Obama is again president...
ReplyDeleteIt shows that the "defeatist spirit" of Romney isn't reassuring whereas Obama who represents the whole American people with is fighting and inventive spirit is more attractive. His personnality revives American's will, hopefully, for another four years ...