Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges in Time?

by Joel C. Rosenberg

  [201] Blake Ellis, “Food Stamp Use Rises to Record 45.8 Million,” CNN Money, August 4, 2011, http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/04/pf/food_stamps_record_high/index.htm.

  [202] See Office of Management and Budget, “Fiscal Year 2012 Historical Tables: Budget of the U.S. Government,” p. 5, http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/hist.pdf.

  [203] Ibid.

  [204] Ibid., p. 22.

  [205] See Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2010 to 2020, January 2010, Table F-1, “Historical Budget Data: Revenues, Outlays, Deficits, Surpluses, and Debt Held by the Public, 1970 to 2009, in Billions of Dollars,” http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/AppendixF.shtml#1096834.

  [206] Ibid., Table F-2, “Revenues, Outlays, Deficits, Surpluses, and Debt Held by the Public, 1970 to 2009, as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product.”

  [207] Ibid., Table F-1.

  [208] Ibid., Table F-2.

  [209] Cited by Katrina Trinko, “Obama: Not Always a Fan of Upping Debt Ceiling,” National Review Online, January 3, 2011, http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/256199/obama-not-always-fan-upping-debt-ceiling-katrina-trinko.

  [210] See Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook, Table F-1, http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/AppendixF.shtml#1096834.

  [211] See “Debt Position and Activity Report,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, November 30, 2011, http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/pd_debtposactrpt_1111.pdf.

  [212] See Patrick Tyrrell, “U.S. Debt Now Surpasses 2010 GDP,” The Foundry (blog), Heritage Foundation, August 5, 2011, http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/05/us-debt-now-surpasses-2010-gdp/; see also “U.S. Debt Reaches 100 Percent of Country’s GDP,” FoxNews.com, August 4, 2011, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/04/us-debt-reaches-100-percent-countrys-gdp/.

  [213] Andrew Malcolm, “New National Debt Data: It’s Growing about $3 Million a Minute, Even During His Vacation,” Top of the Ticket (blog), Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2011, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/08/obama-national-debt.html.

  [214] One trillion seconds is 31,688 years; see “Billions & Trillions,” DefeatTheDebt.com, Employment Policies Institute, http://www.defeatthedebt.com/understanding-the-national-debt/millions-billions-trillions/.

  [215] Ibid.

  [216] Ibid. There are about 500 billion stars in the Milky Way; see April Holladay, “Seeing the Milky Way and Counting Its Stars,” January 2, 2006, USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2006-01-02-milky-way_x.htm.

  [217] Ibid.

  [218] Ibid.

  [219] See Paul Ryan, “The Democrats’ Spending Spree,” House Budget Committee fact sheet, February 3, 2011, http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/spendingspree.pdf.

  [220] See Paul Wiseman, “U.S. Downgrade Raises Anxiety, If Not Interest Rates,” Associated Press, August 6, 2011; see also George E. Condon Jr., “What a Week: Afghan Deaths, S&P, and Debt Limit Debate Challenge Obama,” National Journal, August 6, 2011, http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/what-a-week-afghan-deaths-s-p-and-debt-limit-debate-challenge-obama-20110806.

  [221] Zachary A. Goldfarb, “S&P Downgrades U.S. Credit Rating for First Time,” Washington Post, August 5, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sandp-considering-first-downgrade-of-us-credit-rating/2011/08/05/gIQAqKeIxI_story.html.

  [222] Ashe Schow, “Our Debt Has Reached 100% of GDP,” Heritage Action (blog), Heritage Action for America, August 4, 2011, http://heritageaction.com/2011/08/our-debt-has-reached-100-of-gdp/.

  [223] See Congressional Budget Office, Federal Debt and Interest Costs: A CBO Study, December 2010, p. 20, http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/119xx/doc11999/12-14-FederalDebt.pdf; see also Brian Riedl, “CBO Baseline Shows Staggering Debt,” National Review Online, January 26, 2011, http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/258115/cbo-baseline-shows-staggering-debt-brian-riedl; see also Paul Ryan’s comments on ABC News: “Look at these numbers. We are going to have a $25 trillion dollar debt in ten years.” Jonathan Karl and Gregory Simmons, “ABC News Exclusive: eet the Budget Boss, Rep. Paul Ryan,” ABC News, January 26,2011, http://paulryan.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=221696.

  [224] Paul Ryan, “A Roadmap for America’s Future,” House Budget Committee, introduction, http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/Plan/#Intro.

  [225] Ibid.

  [226] These statistics come from the Board of Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds. See Wade Dokken, New Century, New Deal: How to Turn Your Wages into Wealth through Social Security Choice (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2000), p. 62.

  [227] “Abortion Statistics: United States Data and Trends,” National Right to Life, January 27, 2011, http://www.nrlc.org/Factsheets/FS03_AbortionInTheUS.pdf.

  [228] See “Combined OASDI Trust Funds,” Congressional Budget Office fact sheet, March 2010, http://www.cbo.gov/budget/factsheets/2010b/OASDI-TrustFunds.pdf. For more, see “A Summary of the 2011 Annual Reports,” Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, http://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/index.html.

  [229] Stuart Butler et al., “Saving the American Dream: The Heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity,” The Heritage Foundation, Special Report #91, May 10, 2011, chart 2, “Hiking Taxes to Pay for Entitlements Would Require Doubling Tax Rates,” http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/05/Saving-the-American-Dream-The-Heritage-Plan-to-Fix-the-Debt-Cut-Spending-and-Restore-Prosperity.

  [230] Ibid.

  [231] Ryan, “A Roadmap for America’s Future,” introduction, http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/Plan/#Intro.

  [232] Ryan, “A Roadmap for America’s Future,” “Reforming the Budget Process” section, http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/Plan/#budgetreform.

  [233] See Butler et al., “Saving the American Dream.” The Heritage Plan quotes CBO projections extensively.

  [234] J. T. Young, “The Road to Greece,” Barron’s, January 22, 2011, http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203676504575618561763058500.html.

  [235] Ibid.

  [236] Ibid.

  [237] Cited by James Pethokoukis, “So How Goes Bin Laden’s War on the U.S. Economy?” U.S. News & World Report, September 11, 2007.

  [238] Ibid.

  [239] Cited by Randall B. Hamud, Osama bin Laden: America’s Enemy in His Own Words, (San Diego, CA: Nadeem Publishing, 2005), pp. 163–164.

  [240] Cited in “Ahmadinejad: Doom Will Befall U.S. Economy,” Press TV, April 23, 2008.

  [241] Cited in “Iran Threatens to Close Strait of Hormuz if Attacked,” MEMRI, Special Dispatch #2029, August 19, 2008.

  [242] I first heard these five vital interests defined clearly and effectively when I worked at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s. I’m grateful to my Heritage mentors on national security: Edwin Feulner Jr., Burton Yale Pines, Kim Holmes, and Jim Phillips. Along these lines, I would commend to your attention the following recent Heritage report outlining threats against the U.S. and how best to defend against them—“A Strong National Defense: The Armed Forces America Needs and What They Will Cost,” April 5, 2011, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/04/a-strong-national-defense-the-armed-forces-america-needs-and-what-they-will-cost.

  [243] “Putin Threatens to Aim Rockets at U.S. Bases,” Associated Press, February 14, 2008, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23162722/ns/world_news-europe/t/putin-threatens-aim-rockets-us-bases/.

  [244] Alena Chechel et al., “Putin Denounces American Parasite While Russia Increases Treasuries 1,600%,” Bloomberg, August 19, 2011, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-18/putin-slams-u-s-parasite-after-1-600-jump-in-russia-holdings.html.

  [245] For more details, see my book Epicenter (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2006, 2008).

  [246] Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev famously vowed to the American people, “We will bury you.” For more details, see the Pulitzer Prize–winning book
by William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004).

  [247] For more, see “Modernisation in Sheep’s Clothing,” Banyan (blog), The Economist, August 26, 2011, http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/08/chinas-military-power.

  [248] See Miles Yu, “Inside China: Spy Chief on Chinese Threat,” Washington Times, June 8, 2011, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/8/inside-china-408425229/.

  [249] Patrick Tyler, “As China Threatens Taiwan, It Makes Sure U.S. Listens,” New York Times, January 24, 1996, http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/24/world/as-china-threatens-taiwan-it-makes-sure-us-listens.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm.

  [250] Joseph Kahn, “Chinese General Threatens Use of A-Bombs If U.S. Intrudes,” New York Times, July 15, 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/international/asia/15china.html.

  [251] For more details on the Iranian threat, see my book Inside the Revolution (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009).

  [252] “Tehran Threatens West with Homicide Attacks,” Fox News, April 16, 2006, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191910,00.html. Marie Colvin et al., “Iran Suicide Bombers ‘Ready to Hit Britain,’” The Sunday Times of London, April 16, 2006, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article706132.ece. “Iran: We Have 70,000 Suicide Bombers Ready to Strike Israel,” Associated Press, January 5, 2009, http://www.haaretz.com/news/iran-we-have-70-000-suicide-bombers-ready-to-strike-israel-1.267497.

  [253] John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think (New York: Gallup Press, 2008), pp. x–xi.

  [254] According to a 2007 Pew Research Center poll, 28 percent of Egyptian Muslims say they believe suicide bombings against civilian targets are sometimes or often justified; 17 percent of Turkish Muslims agree, along with 10 percent of Indonesian Muslims, 14 percent of Pakistani Muslims, 29 percent of Jordanian Muslims, and 46 percent of Nigerian Muslims. See Andrew Kohut, “Muslims in America: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream,” Pew Research Center, May 22, 2007, http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf, accessed June 24, 2008.

  [255] George Tenet, At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA (New York: Harper Collins, 2007), p. 260, citing a Time article from December 24, 1998.

  [256] Ibid., p. 269.

  [257] See Sheikh Nasir bin Hamd al-Fahd, “A Treatise on the Legal Status of Using Weapons of Mass Destruction Against the Infidels,” May 1, 2003; cited by Tenet, p. 274.

  [258] Tenet, pp. 259–260.

  [259] Porter Goss, interview with the author, February 12, 2008.

  [260] “Mullen: Debt Is Top National Security Issue,” CNN, August 27, 2010, http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-27/us/debt.security.mullen_1_pentagon-budget-national-debt-michael-mullen?_s=PM:US.

  [261] See Elizabeth MacDonald, “U.S. Debt a National Security Issue,” Fox Business, October 11, 2010, http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/10/11/debt-national-security-issue/.

  [262] See “Some Republicans Press for End to Afghan War after bin Laden’s Death,” FoxNews.com, May 24, 2011, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/24/republicans-press-end-afghan-war-bin-ladens-death/; see also Josh Rogin, “Grover Norquist Calls for Discussion on Right about Leaving Afghanistan,” Foreign Policy, January 12, 2011, http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/12/grover_norquist_calls_for_discussion_on_right_about_leaving_afghanistan.

  [263] John McCain, interview by Chris Wallace, “9/11, Then and Now,” Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Fox News, September 11, 2011, http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-news-sunday/2011/09/11/fox-news-sunday-911-then-and-now#ixzz1XyNsV8rt.

  [264] Eric S. Blake et al., “The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones from 1851 to 2010,” NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-6, National Weather Service/National Hurricane Center, August 2011, p. 9, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/nws-nhc-6.pdf.

  [265] “2011 Record Year for Weather Disasters,” UPI, August 19, 2011, http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/08/19/2011-record-year-for-weather-disasters/UPI-57581313783153/.

  [266] Marty Roney and Carolyn Pesce, “Dozens of Tornadoes Kill At Least 297 People in South,” USA Today, April 29, 2011, http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/2011-04-28-deadly-tornado-south_n.htm?loc=interstitialskip.

  [267] See “Worst Fires on Record Ravage Texas,” Voice of America, September 7, 2011, http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Worst-Fires-on-Record-Ravage-Texas-129366213.html; see also “Worst Drought in Texas History Ravages Crops, Livestock,” PBS NewsHour, August 31, 2011, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/july-dec11/texasdrought_08-31.html.

  [268] Katharine Q. Seeyle, “Above All Else, Eastern Quake Rattles Nerves,” New York Times, August 23, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/us/24quake.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all.

  [269] John Wesley, “The Cause and Cure of Earthquakes,” first published in 1750, included in a series of sermons of John Wesley posted on the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church website, http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/129/.

  [270] “Rare 5.8-Magnitude Earthquake Jolts East Coast, Causing Various Disruptions,” PBS NewsHour, August 23, 2011, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/08/rare-59-earthquake-jolts-virginia.html.

  [271] Ker Than, “Rare Earthquake Hits Virginia, Rattles U.S. East Coast,” National Geographic, August 23, 2011, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110824-earthquakes-today-washington-dc-richmond-virginia-science/.

  [272] Ibid.

  [273] Kirk Johnson, “Rare Strong Earthquake Hits Colorado,” New York Times, August 23, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/us/24earthquake.html?_r=1&hpw.

  [274] Ben Tracy, “Haiti Revives Fears of ‘Big One’ in Calif.,” CBS News, January 14, 2010, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/14/eveningnews/main6097974.shtml.

  [275] William M. Welch et al., “Chilean Earthquake Hints at Dangers of ‘Big One’ for USA,” USA Today, March 1, 2010, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-03-01-chile-quake-lessons_N.htm.

  [276] For more on the 1906 San Francisco quake, see “The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake,” U.S. Geological Survey website, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/.

  [277] Wayne R. Thatcher, Peter L. Ward, David J. Wald, James W. Hendley II, and Peter H. Stauffer, “When Will the Next Great Quake Strike Northern California?” U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 094-96, http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/1996/fs094-96/.

  [278] Ibid.

  [279] “Significant Earthquakes and Faults: Northridge Earthquake,” Southern California Earthquake Data Center, California Insititute of Technology, http://www.data.scec.org/significant/northridge1994.html.

  [280] “Forecasting California’s Earthquakes—What Can We Expect in the Next Thirty Years?,” U.S. Geological Survey fact sheet 2008-3027, 2008, http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3027/fs2008-3027.pdf.

  [281] John Roach, “‘Supercities’ Vulnerable to Killer Quakes, Expert Warns,” National Geographic, May 2, 2003, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0502_030502_killerquakes.html.

  [282] Ibid.

  [283] Ibid.

  [284] Stefan Lovgren, “Tsunamis More Likely to Hit U.S. than Asia,” National Geographic, January 3, 2005, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/66796484.html.

  [285] Ibid.

  [286] Ibid.

  [287] “Hurricane Irene Kills 10, Prompts Largest Mass Evacuation in U.S. History,” Haaretz/Reuters, August 28, 2011, http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/hurricane-irene-kills-10-prompts-largest-mass-evacuation-in-u-s-history-1.381123.

  [288] “Over 5 Million Still without Power after Irene: DOE,” Reuters, August 29, 2011, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/29/us-storm-irene-outage-idUSTRE77S5TQ20110829.

  [289] Michael Cooper, “Hurricane Cost Seen as Ranking among Top Ten,” New York Times, August 30, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/us/31floods.html?pagewanted=all.

  [290] Mike Wall, “Hurricane Irene vs. Hurricane Katrina: How They Stack Up,” Live S
cience, August 29, 2011, http://www.livescience.com/15813-hurricane-katrina-irene-comparison.html.

  [291] Nate Silver, “A New York Hurricane Could Be a Multibillion-Dollar Disaster,” FiveThirtyEight (blog), New York Times, August 26, 2011, http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/new-york-hurricane-could-be-multibillion-dollar-catastrophe/.

  [292] Ibid.

  [293] Ibid.

  [294] Ibid.

  [295] Ibid.

  [296] Eric Blake et al., pp. 7, 9.

  [297] Ibid., p. 6.

  [298] Wall.

  [299] Robert Lee Holtz, “Northern Landfall Puts Storm on Map,” Wall Street Journal, August 29, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903352704576536790143615646.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories.