After America

by Mark Steyn

  10 CBO report, “The Long-Term Budget Outlook: Federal Debt Held by the Public Under Two Budget Scenarios,” June 2010; available online at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11579/06-30-LTBO.pdf.

  11 Niall Ferguson, “Sun could set suddenly on superpower as debt bites,” The Australian, July 29, 2010; available online at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/sun-could-set-suddenly-on-superpower-as-debt-bites/storye6frg6zo-1225898187243.

  12 CBO report, “The Long-Term Budget Outlook: Federal Debt Held by the Public Under Two Budget Scenarios,” June 2010; available online at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11579/06-30-LTBO.pdf.

  13 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2011; available online at http://www.rickety.us/2011/01/2009-defense-spending-by-country/.

  14 Niall Ferguson, “Sun could set suddenly on superpower as debt bites,” The Australian.

  15 US Treasury, “Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities,” March 15, 2001; available online at http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/mfh.txt.

  16 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2011; available online at http://www.rickety.us/2011/01/2009-defense-spending-by-country/.

  17 US Department of Defense, “Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” 2010; available online at http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/2010_CMPR_Final.pdf.

  18 Sam Lister, ““NHS is world’s biggest employer after Indian rail and Chinese Army,” March 20, 2004; available online at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article1050197.ece.

  19 Lawrence B. Lindsey, “The Fiscal Trap,” The Weekly Standard, December 6, 2010; available online at http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/fiscal-trap_519582.html.

  20 Testimony before the House Budget Committee, January 27, 2010; available online at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/2010BudgetandEconomicOutlook2.

  21 The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, “The Moment of Truth,” December 2010; available online at http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/sites/fiscalcommission.gov/files/documents/TheMomentofTruth12_1_2010.pdf.

  22 Tax Policy Center, “Historical Federal Receipt and Outlay Summary,” March 25, 2011; available online at http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200; and the Congressional Budget Office, “Budget and Economic Outlook: Historical Budget Data,” January 2011; available online at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12039/HistoricalTables%5B1%5D.pdf.

  23 Brian Riedl, “Federal Spending by the Numbers 2010,” June 1, 2010, Heritage Foundation; available online at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/06/Federal-Spending-by-the-Numbers-2010.

  24 Terrence P. Jeffrey, “Conservatives Now Outnumber Liberals in All 50 States, Says Gallup Poll,” CNSNews.com, August 17, 2009; available online at http://www.cnsnews.com/node/52602.

  25 Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski, “The Return of the Living Dead: Federal Programs That Survived the Republican Revolution,” July 24, 2000, Cato Institute Policy Analysis; available online at http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa375.pdf.

  26 Andrew Nagorski, “The Troubles,” Newsweek, March 16, 2010; available online at http://www.newsweek.com/2010/03/15/the-troubles.html.

  27 Gregory White, “Bill Gross: Fed To Buy $100 Billion In Government Debt A Month Until It Hits $1.2 Trillion,” Business Insider, October 8, 2010; available online at http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gross-fed-to-buy-100-billion-ingovernment-securities-a-month-2010-10.

  28 John Kitchen and Menzie Chinn, “Financing U.S. Debt: Is There Enough Money in the World–and At What Cost?” University of Wisconsin, August 2010; available online at http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~mchinn/Kitchen_Chinn_apr11.pdf.

  29 Christopher S. Johnson, “How Much Ruin is in a Nation?: The Spain of Philip IV,” First Things, March 24, 2011; available online at http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2011/03/how-much-ruin-is-in-a-nation.

  30 Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We?: The Challenges to America’s National Identity (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005).

  31 Lawrence Kudlow, “France’s Problem is a Statist-Run Socialist Economy,” RealClearPolitics.com, March 27, 2006; available online at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/03/paddle_the_french_fanny.html.

  32 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Education at a Glance 2009: OECD Indicators,” (Indicator B1 How much is spent per student?), 2009; available online at http://www.oecd.org/document/24/0,3343,en_2649_39263238_43586328_1_1_1_37455,00.html.

  33 Edward Luce, “The crisis of middle-class America,” Financial Times, July 30, 2010; available online at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1a8a5cb2-9ab2-11df-87e6-00144feab49a.html.

  34 Bureau of the Public Debt, “Commissioner’s Welcome,” 2011; available online at http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/whoweare/welcome.htm.

  35 Niall Ferguson, “An Empire at Risk,” Newsweek, November 28, 2009; available online at http://www.newsweek.com/2009/11/27/an-empire-at-risk.html.

  36 Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998).

  Chapter One

  1 University of Toronto Library, “Hughes (Elizabeth) Papers”; available online at http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/collections/findaids/hughes_elizabeth.pdf.

  2 “Mary Carmichael and Sharon Begley, “Desperately Seeking Cures,” Newsweek, May 15, 2010; available online at http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/15/desperately-seeking-cures.html.

  3 Henkles & McCoy,“1969”; available online at http://www.henkels.com/Timeline/Pages/TL1969.aspx.

  4 Remarks during Special Joint Session of Congress in Washington, D.C., May 25, 1961; facts available online http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/history/.

  5 William Safire, “In Event of Moon Disaster,” memo to President Richard Nixon, July 18, 1969; available online at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/white-house-lost-space-scenarios.

  6 Bruce Charlton, “Human capability peaked before 1975 and has since declined,” Bruce Charlton’s Miscellany blog, June 22, 2011; available online at http://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2010/06/human-capability-peaked-about-1975-and.html.

  7 Remarks on Al Jazeera’s Talk to Al Jazeera, June 30, 2010; available online at http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/talktojazeera/2010/07/201071122234471970.html.

  8 The Guardian, “Astronauts Were ‘Trinity of Evil’, Says Banned Cleric,” February 3, 2003; available online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/feb/03/spaceexploration.columbia13.

  9 Jeanne Sahadi, “Obama sketches out recovery plan,” CNNMoney.com, January 3, 2009; available online at http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/03/news/economy/obama_stimulus/index.htm?postversion=2009010306.

  10 Katrina vanden Heuvel, “A Trillion Dollar Recovery,” The Nation, December 30, 2008; available online at http://www.thenation.com/blog/trillion-dollarrecovery?page=0,0,0,3.

  11 Mark I. Pinksy, “Write Now,” The New Republic, December 8, 2008; available online at http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/write-now.

  12 Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Address at the Dedication of the Boulder (Hoover) Dam,” September 30, 1935; available online http://books.google.com/books?id=SYeEmU2aW9EC&pg=PA311&lpg=PA311&dq=This+morning+I+came,+I+saw,+and+I+was+conquered,+as+everyone+would+be+who+sees+for+the+first+time+this+great+feat+of+mankind&source=bl&ots=_ei3wFH-9M&sig=zAhdn5KDbUAmQWQM90Nv6-UAN-8&hl=en&ei=3wLUTZOaIej30gGQ1JTYCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=This%20morning%20I%20came%2C%20I%20saw%2C%20and%20I%20was%20conquered%2C%20as%20everyone%20would%20be%20who%20sees%20for%20the%20first%20time%20this%20great%20feat%20of%20mankind&f=false.

  13 Remarks made during an Urban Land Institute symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada, December 8-9, 2009; facts available online at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45376_Page2.html, http://atlincolnhouse.typepad.com/weblog/2009/12/talking-water.html, and http://www.uli.org/sitecore/content/ULI2Home/ResearchAndPublications/CenterfortheWest/WaterSum
mit.aspx.

  14 Mushtaq Yufzai, “Taliban Commanders See Victory in the Sacking of U.S. General,” The Daily Beast, June 25, 2010; available online at http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-25/taliban-mcchrystal-sacking-a-victory/.

  15 Remarks during State of the Union Address in Washington, DC, January 20, 2004; available online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/transcripts/bushtext_012004.html. The actual quote is: “I believe that God has planted in every human heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again.”

  16 Anthony Tommasini, “Music; The Devil Made Him Do It,” New York Times, September 30, 2001; available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/30/arts/music-the-devil-made-him-do-it.html.

  17 The Telegraph, “Obituary: Karlheinz Stockhausen,” December 8, 2007; available online at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1571861/Karlheinz-Stockhausen.html.

  18 Remarks on WOR radio in New York, New York, February 19, 2010; available online at http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-02-19/local/27056722_1_portauthority-larry-silverstein-world-trade-center.

  19 CNN, “38 Years Ago, World Trade Center Opened,” April 4, 2011; available online at http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/04/38-years-ago-world-trade-centeropened/.

  20 Jim Yardley, “Chinese Dam Projects Criticized for Their Human Costs,” New York Times, November 19, 2007; available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/world/asia/19dam.html.

  21 Facts available online at Burj Khalifa’s website; http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/.

  22 Henry Mance, “Brazil’s huge river diversion project divides opinion,” BBC News, April 12, 2010; available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8575010.stm.

  23 James Lileks, “NRO Symposium: Did It Change Us?” National Review Online, September 11, 2006; available online at http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/218680/did-it-change-us-nro-symposium.

  24 Leslie H. Gelb, “Necessity, Choice, and Common Sense,” Foreign Affairs, May/ June 2009; available online at http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/64966/leslie-h-gelb/necessity-choice-and-common-sense.

  25 The British Museum, “Christopher Wren, Design for the Dome of St Paul’s Catherdral, a drawing in brown ink over pencil”; available online at http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/c/christopher_wren,_design_for_t.aspx.

  Chapter Two

  1 Interview with David Wigg in London, England, October 8, 1969; available online at: http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1969.1008.beatles.html.

  2 Reuters, “Key Facts About Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” USA Today, July 13, 2008; available online at http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-07-12-facts-fannie-freddie_N.htm.

  3 Matthew Daneman, “Kodak Still a Vital Cog,” Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, February 4, 2008; available online at http://www.rochesterbusinessalliance.com/core/contentmanager/uploads/PDFs/News%20articles/0204%20Kodak%20DANDC.pdf.

  4 Michael P. Fleischer, “Why I’m Not Hiring,” Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2010; available online at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409733776372738.html.

  5 Maria Glod, “Va. Yogis Seek Rapture, Not Regulation,” Washington Post, August 24, 2009; available online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/23/AR2009082302152.html.

  6 Morris M. Kleiner, Licensing Occupations: Ensuring Quality or Restricting Competition? , Upjohn Institute Press, 2006; facts available online at http://www.bizpacreview.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.details&ArticleId=19421.

  7 Patricia Reaney, “Washington, D.C. favorite area for wealthy young,” Reuters, September 16, 2009; available online at http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/09/16/us-wealth-young-idUSTRE58F3GF20090916.

  8 Ibid.

  9 “The Richest Counties in America,” Newsweek, November 10, 2010; available online at http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/10/the-richest-counties-in-america.all.html.

  10 Laurence J. Kotlikoff and David Rapson, “Does It Pay, at the Margin, to Work and Save? Measuring Effective Marginal Taxes on Americans’ Labor Supply and Saving,” National Bureau of Economic Research, May, 2007; available online at http://www.nber.org/chapters/c0048.pdf?new_window=1.

  11 Town hall meeting in Fort Myers, Florida, February 10, 2009; available online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Fort-Myers-Town-Hall/.

  12 Peter Nicholas, “Obama’s ‘New Foundation’ gives way–maybe to a catchier catchphrase,” Los Angeles Times, February 9, 2011; available online at http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/09/nation/la-na-new-foundation-20110209.

  13 Marion Daily Star, 1899; also see William Safire, Safire’s Political Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2008); available online at http://books.google.com/books?id=c4UoX6-Sv1AC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=Our+various+and+sundry+supplies+of+gray+matter+may+as+well+be+controlled+by+a+central+syndicate.Our+various+and+sundry+supplies+of+gray+matter+may+as+well+be+controlled+by+a+central+syndicate.&source=bl&ots=V1wh3zqsLl&sig=F6A3N2pGsMoneiBYkL1fxzenR20&hl=en&ei=AjmzTb6rBaKD0QGYvdiqCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false.

  14 Remarks at a fundraiser in San Francisco, California, April 6, 2008; available online at http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0408/Obama_on_small-town_PA_Clinging_religion_guns_xenophobia.html.

  15 Remarks at a campaign stop in Muncie, Indiana, April 12, 2008; facts available online at http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/04/12/us-usa-politicsidUSN1116676020080412.

  16 Remarks at a campaign stop in Roseburg, Oregon, May 16, 2008; facts available online at http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-wpxs1Re-8vx2Zk5xnYygW1W67w.

  17 Neil Irwin, “Economic growth slows to 2.4 percent in 2Q,” Washington Post, July 30, 2010; available online at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/politicaleconomy/2010/07/economic_growth_slows_to_24_pe.html.

  18 Interview with Don Imus; facts available online at http://washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/2009/07/douglas-mackinnon-don-t-bother-these-guys-facts.

  19 David Brooks, “The Insider’s Crusade,” New York Times, November 21, 2008; available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/opinion/21brooks.html.

  20 Jonathan Alter, The Promise: President Obama, Year One (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010); facts available online at http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.1764/article_detail.asp.

  21 Remarks to the Greater Boson Chamber of Commerce in Boston, Massachusetts, October 28, 2010; facts available online at http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/10/28/kerry_says_democrats_have_been_fixing_gop_problems/.

  22 Speech in Boston, Massachusetts, April 22, 2006; available online at http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0604/S00399.htm; Monticello.org, “Spurious Quotes,” available online at http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/spurious-quotes.

  23 Jamie Stiehm, “Oval Office Rug Gets History Wrong,” Washington Post, September 4, 2010; available online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090305100.html.

  24 Remarks at the Democrat National Gala, September 29, 2002; facts available online at http://www.snopes.com/quotes/caesar.asp and http://www.barbrastreisand.com/us/truth-alert/julius-caesar-quote-used-democratic-national-gala-speech.

  25 Michael C. Moynihan, “The Extreme Rhetoric about Extreme Rhetoric (With Bonus Fake Sinclair Lewis Fascism Quote!),” Reason, January 11, 2011; available online at http://reason.com/blog/2011/01/11/the-extreme-rhetoric-about-ext.

  26 Michael Young, “Down With Meritocracy,” The Guardian, June 29, 2001 ; available online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2001/jun/29/comment.

  27 Associated Press, “Kerry, Bush GPAs At Yale Similar,” CBSNews.com, February 11, 2009; facts available online at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/07/politics/main700170.shtml.

  28 Winston Churchill, The Hinge of Fate (Rosetta Stone, LLC edition, 2002); available online at http://books.google.com/books?id=CEK6h9lzK3wC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=mere+advi
sors+at+large+with+nothing+to+do+but+think+and+talk+churchill&source=bl&ots=4xccE4bJdG&sig=-_O62AUhVhoskUVLRCE38HrBjuA&hl=en&ei=eXezTeyUFILu0gHD4sjMDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false.

  29 Tim Shipman, “Barack Obama sends bust of Winston Churchill on its way back to Britain,” UK Telegraph, February 14, 2009; available online at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/4623148/Barack-Obama-sendsbust-of-Winston-Churchill-on-its-way-back-to-Britain.html.

  30 Nick Schulz, “Help Wanted, No Private Sector Experience Required,” The Enterprise Blog of the American Enterprise Institute, November 25, 2009; available online at http://blog.american.com/?p=7572.

  31 Remarks in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 3, 2008; available online at http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D912VD200.

  32 Remarks at St. James’s Palace in London, England, July 8, 2009; facts available online at http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/just-96-months-to-save-world-says-prince-charles-1738049.html.

  33 Michael Grunwald, “The New Action Heroes,” Time, June 14, 2007; available online at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1632736,00.html.

  34 CBS News New York, “Bloomberg Admits NYC Flubbed Blizzard Response,” December 29, 2010; available online at http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/29/bloomberg-admits-nyc-flubbed-blizzard-response/.

  35 Charlie LeDuff, “Los Angeles County Weighs Cost of Illegal Immigration,” New York Times, May 21, 2003; available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/21/us/los-angeles-county-weighs-cost-of-illegal-immigration.html.

  36 Remarks at a campaign event for Martha Coakley, Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, January 17, 2010; available online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-event-with-massachusetts-attorney-general-martha-coakley.

  37 Inside Edition, “White House Veggie-Gate,” January 15, 2010; available online at http://www.insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyId=3855.