The Post-American World by; Fareed Zakaria

A liberal leaning friend shared his copy of this book with me. As I have always tried to do I read it to see what I could glean from it of value in my continuing search for reason and solutions? I believe it to be a valuable source of information and I share his views on where America stands today as all around us other nations are gaining ground. He believes as I do that we are still dominant and will continue for some time in the future. He does point out many ways in which we have hurt ourselves most importantly the bombastic way in which President George Bush went to war with Iraq without a mandate from the United Nations which meant that for the most part we went alone. The first Iraq war we not only had military support from our traditional Allies but also the Arab League. Unbelievable to have them fighting side by side with America. In addition many billions were given to defray the cost. The second time around America did the fighting and paying. The vast majority of citizens around the world including myself expressed their concern to their governments hoping to stop it. Out of that came bitterness and disdain where before America was revered. We were now considered bullies who would use our dominant power wherever we chose unilaterally. Another is the political ineptness of the two parties who continue to create conflict over ideology rather than coming together to find ways to resolve important issues. As citizens we support one party and when it doesn’t produce results we vote for the other, all the while stalemate continues and we flounder rudderless down the rapids. I have a problem with his suggestions on what needs to be done for America to remain the dominate society. He minimizes the spread of Islam in Europe and around the world and he doesn’t support doing anything to counter the unfair business practices primarily of China but other countries as well. It is my firm belief that Islam with its Sharia law threatens to stifle human progress by dragging the world back 1300 years ago. The chaos they create around the world cannot be ignored but of course with Obama as President we are powerless to face up to the threat. He berates the meager attempts by one House or another in Congress to penalize China for artificially inflating their currency creating an unfair advantage for American workers. Add to that the many ways they steal or manipulate Corporations to give their secrets plus ignoring copyright protection. Many people are satisfied with low cost items found at Wall- Mart and the soaring stock market. These are the people who don’t understand that American manufacturing is important and that those engaged in factory work should be able to earn satisfactory income. We tax manufacturing at the highest rate in the civilized world. I would start by cutting it in half. Secondly regulations that are unnecessary would be eliminated. Frivolous law suits would be curtailed. Unions would be directed to promote jobs not force companies to shut down. Place a tariff on all Chinese goods equivalent to overcome their manipulation of currency. All of the above to jump start manufacturing. If that wasn’t sufficient I would go further. Remember good jobs paying good wages would provide income to be taxed plus those employed would not then be drawing down unemployment checks, using food stamps or be on welfare reducing the monetary drain on resources. This book is worth reading as long as you don’t swallow whole his statements. Jack B. Walters July 5, 2012