Harvard prof. Niall Ferguson: U.S. "on the edge of chaos."

This is the doomy-est I've ever seen Ferguson. He's a pretty mainstram character...he's not of the nature of Gerald Celente or Max Kaiser, etc. So although his opinions will not be news to most ATSers, they are an interesting benchmark of the slow dawning of reality (well, at least to some extent) in the MSM.

It's also interesting that the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is usually full of "gee-whiz" Silicon-Valley-style bright-eyed enthusiasm, is this year marked by strong pessimism right off the bat.

The Aspen Institute never promised that all the big notions aired at its popular Aspen Ideas Festival will be full of hope and inspiration. The sixth annual festival opened with a sobering vision of the future from financial historian and Harvard professor Niall Ferguson, who declared that history indicates the United States is an empire "on the edge of chaos."...

... "If you really want to see when an empire is getting vulnerable, the big giveaway is when the costs of serving the debt exceed the cost of the defense budget," Ferguson said. That will happen in the United States within the next six years, he predicted...

...If the United States fades as a world economic and military superpower, Ferguson sees dire consequences, regardless of whether China replaces it. One result of the U.S. loss of power, he predicted, is the greater Middle East "spiraling out of control." Ferguson said America can finding solid fiscal footing by making tough decisions — soon — on federal deficits. He also advocated easing taxes on small companies and corporations to spur investment and hiring.

More at source:
www.aspentimes.com...&ParentProfile=1058

He is quite mainstream for sure...I liked his work on the Rothschilds, he was very factual and got out of the way of the primary sources, pretty much and more than usual for a historian, as I recall...

But of course, I don't need him to say what is obvious to me already, hee-hee...

Originally posted by nine-eyed-eel
But of course, I don't need him to say what is obvious to me already, hee-hee...

Yes, exactly...the MSM and all these so-called "authorities" are like the mentally challenged younger siblings of ATS. Funny how everthing breaks here first, and then a week, month, or even years later the whole world suddenly sits up in stupified suprise.

Still, I always think its significant on many levels when mainstream figures start "going doom." Somehow its always less comforting than I thought it would be to have my cranky, eccentric, oft-ridiculed views validated by the media clowns on a seemingly daily basis.

[edit on 7/6/10 by silent thunder]

Kind of puts into perspective the bank bailouts, millions and billions of dollars to corporations and the elite...By the time the chaos arrives they will have all the money they need to either migrate to the new super power or live lavishly in the hills while America burns...

If memory serves, wasn't he listed as one of the attendees at the 2010 Bilderberg convention.