I can't imagine having a conversation about 'Celebrity Big Brother' in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

I think the condition of imperial denial is a handicap because if you do not recognize that you are essentially performing the functions of an empire, you are incapable of learning from the mistakes of past empires.

When bond prices fall, interest rates soar, with painful consequences for all borrowers.

For 500 years the West patented six killer applications that set it apart. The first to download them was Japan. Over the last century, one Asian country after another has downloaded these killer apps- competition, modern science, the rule of law and private property rights, modern medicine, the consumer society and the work ethic. Those six things are the secret sauce of Western civilization.

American Empire- it is an empire that lacks the drive to export its capital, its people and its culture to those backward regions which need them most urgently and which, if they are neglected, will breed the greatest threats to its security. It is an empire, in short, that dare not speak its name. It is an empire in denial.

The Armenian genocide showed what could happen when empires were beaten into nations.

You really struggle to be a successful empire if you are also the world's biggest debtor.