I once wrote a large paper on the Bretton Woods System and from my research I've concluded that the U.S was at the height of its potential power following WWII, but wasted it by being head creditor to the IMF and creating an unsustainable gold-dollar system. U.S had 90% of the world's gold reserves, a military strength that dwarfed the rest of the world's, and a high standard of living (excluding a obligatory post-war recession).
In comparison, countries like China and Greece underwent Civil Wars, Western European Nations had their governments in exile or flat out controlled by the USSR, and most of the other belligerents in the war suffered from massive war debt brought about by unpaid loans, infrastructure eradication, and inflation. The U.S was in a position of power, but chose to use that power and indebt itself to repair the rest of the world for stability's sake, including programs during the Cold War.
A U.S refusal to help rebuild Western Europe after the war might have not been a good idea though, since that might have put a target on our backs for the rest of the world, meaning no help from a pissed-off Western Europe against against pissed-off communist nations.
This habit of the U.S giving funding abroad while cutting down it's own production and industry continued for decades (though less and less to fight communism), and thus weakened the U.S to strengthen the rest of the world and give rise to their industries.
So really the idea of a western collapse isn't some new theory, its been an ongoing process that people tend to predict will happen during a certain bracket of time, whether it be during the 60's, 80's, or now. It's just been a question of how long the U.S could withstand it's course.
In comparison, countries like China and Greece underwent Civil Wars, Western European Nations had their governments in exile or flat out controlled by the USSR, and most of the other belligerents in the war suffered from massive war debt brought about by unpaid loans, infrastructure eradication, and inflation. The U.S was in a position of power, but chose to use that power and indebt itself to repair the rest of the world for stability's sake, including programs during the Cold War.
A U.S refusal to help rebuild Western Europe after the war might have not been a good idea though, since that might have put a target on our backs for the rest of the world, meaning no help from a pissed-off Western Europe against against pissed-off communist nations.
This habit of the U.S giving funding abroad while cutting down it's own production and industry continued for decades (though less and less to fight communism), and thus weakened the U.S to strengthen the rest of the world and give rise to their industries.
So really the idea of a western collapse isn't some new theory, its been an ongoing process that people tend to predict will happen during a certain bracket of time, whether it be during the 60's, 80's, or now. It's just been a question of how long the U.S could withstand it's course.