[1]
Judd Greg (R-NH), interview by Greta Van Susteren, “America on Track for Economic Implosion?” Fox News, September 16, 2010,
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4340596/america-on-track-for-economic-implosion/
.

[2]
Aaron Task, “Rubin Warns of Bond Market ‘Implosion’: U.S. in ‘Terribly Dangerous Territory,’” Yahoo News, November 17, 2010,
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/update-rubin-warns-of-bond-market-%22implosion%22-u.s.-in-%22terribly-dangerous-territory%22-535621.html?tickers=C,TBT,TLT,UUP,FXI,EWH,EWS
. For more on the event itself, see the press release issued by the Concord Coalition,
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/senator-kent-conrad-to-receive-concord-coalition-award-and-discuss-americas-fiscal-outlook-107269293.html
.

[3]
David Walker, interview by Steve Kroft, “U.S. Heading for Financial Trouble?”
60 Minutes
, CBS News, March 4, 2007 (updated July 8, 2007),
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/01/60minutes/main2528226.shtml
.

[4]
Task.

[5]
See Nicholas Ballasy, “Ryan: Debt on Track to Hit 800 Percent of GDP; ‘CBO Can’t Conceive of Any Way’ Economy Can Continue Past 2037,” CNS News, April 6, 2011,
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/rep-ryan-obama-s-budget-path-do-nothing
.

[6]
See Dana Bash and Deidre Walsh, “Behind the Scenes: How the GOP Is Selling Its Budget Plan to Itself,” CNN, March 18, 2011,
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/17/gop.budget.plan/
.

[7]
Louis Jacobson, “Paul Ryan Says CBO Model of Economy Self-Destructs Due to Rising Deficits in 2037,” PolitiFact.com, March 21, 2011,
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/mar/21/paul-ryan/paul-ryan-says-cbo-model-self-destructs-due-rising/
.

[8]
See Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy,
The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House
(New York: Center Street/Hachette Book Group USA, 2007), p. 48.

[9]
Ibid., p. 52.

[10]
Ibid., p. 108.

[11]
Winston Churchill, “Sinews of Peace,” (address to Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946),
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/winstonchurchillsinewsofpeace.htm
.

[12]
Robin Wright,
Sacred Rage
(New York: Touchstone, 1985, 2001), p. 257. Bin Laden made the statement in a May 1998 interview on ABC News.

[13]
Alireza Jafarzedeh,
The Iran Threat
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), p. 25.

[14]
Steve Stalinsky. “The Iranian Threat: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,”
New York Sun
, February 9, 2005.

[15]
“Ahmadinejad Says Israel Will Soon Disappear,” Agence France-Presse, June 2, 2008; see also, “Ahmadinejad: Iran, Japan Should Be Prepared for a World without U.S.,” Islamic Republic News Agency, June 4, 2008.

[16]
“President Ahmadinejad: U.S. Collapse Imminent,” Fars News Agency, June 4, 2011,
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9003143193
.

[17]
See “Ahmadinejad Says Israel, U.S. Will ‘Collapse’ in Near Future,” Haaretz, June 4, 2011,
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/ahmadinejad-says-israel-u-s-will-collapse-in-near-future-1.365843
.

[18]
“Satisfaction with the United States,” Gallup,
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1669/general-mood-country.aspx
.

[19]
Frank Newport, “Americans’ Satisfaction at All-time Low of 9%,” Gallup, October 7, 2008,
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110983/americans-satisfaction-alltime-low.aspx
. Also see Gallup data: “Satisfaction with the United States,”
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1669/general-mood-country.aspx
.

[20]
The poll was taken September 19–22, 2008. See NBC News/
Wall Street Journal
historical polling data at
www.pollingreport.com/right.htm
.

[21]
The poll was taken December 11–14, 2008. See ABC News/
Washington Post
historical polling data at
www.pollingreport.com/right.htm
.

[22]
Dana Blanton, “Fox News Poll: 79% Say U.S. Economy Could Collapse,” FoxNews.com, March 23, 2010,
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/23/fox-news-poll-say-economy-collapse/
.

[23]
Specifically, 78 percent said they were dissatisfied, while 20 percent said they were satisfied. The poll was taken June 9–12, 2011. See Lydia Saad, “U.S. Satisfaction Dips to 20% in June,” Gallup, June 16, 2011,
http://www.gallup.com/poll/148070/satisfaction-dips-june.aspx
and Gallup historical polling data at
www.pollingreport.com/right.htm
.

[24]
Specifically, 39 percent of Americans feared a permanent decline of the American economy in June 2011, up from just 28 percent in October 2010. The polls were taken on June 24–28, 2011, and October 21–26, 2010, respectively. See
New York Times
/CBS News poll,
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/213045/nytcbspoll.pdf
.

[25]
Specifically, 48 percent of Americans believe a Great Depression is coming. See “CNN Poll: Obama Approval Rating Drops as Fears of Depression Rise,”
Political Ticker
(blog), June 8, 2011,
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/08/cnn-poll-obama-approval-rating-drops-as-fears-of-depression-rise/
.

[26]
An NBC News/
Wall Street Journal
poll in November 2011 found that 73 percent of Americans believed the country was on the wrong track. See
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/A_Politics/November_Poll.pdf
. An ABC News/
Washington Post
poll in September 2011 found that 77 percent of Americans believed the country was on the wrong track. Only 20 percent believed the country was on the right track. The poll was taken August 29–September 1, 2011.
S
ee “Obama’s Approval
Ratings Skid to New Low; Economic Stewardship in Question,”
The Washington Post
, September 5, 2011,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/obamas-approval-ratings-skid-to-new-low-economic-stewardship-in-question/2011/09/05/gIQACwxH5J_graphic.html
. A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken in August 2011 found 73 percent of Americans believing the country was on the wrong track. See Steve Holland, “Most Americans Say U.S. on Wrong Track: Poll,” Reuters, August 10, 2011,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/10/us-usa-poll-idUSTRE7794EX20110810
.

[27]
See Keith Olbermann, “Beginning of the End of America,” MSNBC, October 19, 2006,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15321167/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann/t/beginning-end-america/
.

[28]
See Glenn Beck, “Beck insists audience ‘must not allow’ health care bill to pass, warns it would mean ‘the end of America as you know it,’” video, Media Matters for America, from
The Glenn Beck Program
, Premiere Radio Networks, November 19, 2009,
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200911190012
.

[29]
Former VP Gore was speaking on threats to American democracy; see “Text of Gore Speech at Media Conference,” Associated Press, October 6, 2005,
http://www.legitgov.org/transcript_gore_media_conference_071005.html
. With regards to the planet facing an emergency, see Al Gore’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Oslo City Hall, December 10, 2007,
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/gore-lecture_en.html
.

[30]
See Charles Krauthammer, comments on
Fox News All-Stars
, Fox News Channel, June 8, 2011, quoted in “Krauthammer’s Take,”
The Corner
(blog), National Review Online,
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/269140/krauthammers-take-nro-staff
.

[31]
See Noel Sheppard, “Paul Krugman: The American Dream Is Dying,” NewsBusters, September 26, 2009,
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/09/26/paul-krugman-american-dream-dying#ixzz1Oj9ALtky
.

[32]
See Peggy Noonan, “A Separate Peace: America Is in Trouble—and Our Elites Are Merely Resigned,”
Wall Street Journal
, October 27, 2005,
http://www.peggynoonan.com/article.php?article=289
.

[33]
See Chalmers Johnson,
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic
, (New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2006), p. 71.

[34]
See Thomas Sowell,
Dismantling America: And Other Controversial Essays
, (New York: Basic Books, Perseus Books Group, 2010), pp. vii–viii.

[35]
See Cullen Murphy,
Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America
, (New York: Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007), p. 197.

[36]
See Pat Buchanan, “Pat Puchannan: Overextended U.S. Empire Is Coming Down,” video, Real Clear Politics Video, from
Morning Joe
, MSNBC, July 6, 2011,
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/07/06/pat_buchanan_overextended_us_empire_is_coming_down.html
.

[37]
See “Health Care Law Signals U.S. Empire Decline?” CNBC, March 24, 2010
http://m.cnbc.com/us_news/36013573/1
.

[38]
See Thomas L. Friedman, “The Earth Is Full,”
New York Times
, June 7, 2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08friedman.html?_r=1
.

[39]
See Rick Newman, “9 Signs of America in Decline,”
U.S. News & World Report
, October 26, 2009,
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2009/10/26/9-signs-of-america-in-decline
.

[40]
See Alfred W. McCoy, “How America Will Collapse (by 2025),” Salon.com, December 6, 2010,
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/12/06/america_collapse_2025
.

[41]
See Fareed Zakaria, “Are America’s Best Days Behind Us?”
Time
, March 14, 2011,
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2056610,00.html#ixzz1PNPJ3xm5
.

[42]
See Ray B. Williams, “Why America Is In Decline,”
Psychology Today
, March 13, 2011,
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201103/why-america-is-in-decline
.

[43]
See John Barry and Tara McKelvey, “Gates Says U.S. at Risk of Losing Global Supremacy,”
Newsweek
, June 19, 2011,
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/06/19/the-defense-rests.print.html
.

[44]
Naomi Wolf.
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
(White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2007), p. 19.

[45]
Ibid., pp. 1, 14, 151, 152.

[46]
Mark Steyn.
After America: Get Ready for Armageddon
(Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2011), p. 2.

[47]
Ibid., p. 4.

[48]
Ibid., p. 5.

[49]
Ibid., pp. 6, 22. See also Steyn’s conclusion on pp. 347–349.

[50]
Fareed Zakaria,
The Post-American World: Release 2.0
(New York: Norton, 2011), pp. 1–2.

[51]
Ibid., pp. 4–5.

[52]
Zakaria noted in the original edition of his book that “the Mall of America in Minnesota once boasted that it was the largest shopping mall in the world” but “today it wouldn’t make the top ten.”

[53]
Ibid., p. 3.

[54]
Ibid., pp. 241–242.

[55]
Ibid., p. 243.

[56]
The phrase “leading from behind” comes from an unidentified advisor to President Obama, quoted in
New Yorker
magazine. For a link to the original reference and some of the controversy ignited by the remark, see Ryan Lizza, “Leading from Behind,”
New Yorker
, April 27, 2011,
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/04/leading-from-behind-obama-clinton.html
. See also Charles Krauthammer, “The Obama Doctrine: Leading from Behind,”
Washington Post
, April 28, 2011,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-obama-doctrine-leading-from-behind/2011/04/28/AFBCy18E_story.html
and William Kristol, “A Leader from Behind,”
Weekly Standard
, May 9, 2011,
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/leader-behind_558488.html
.

[57]
Barack Obama, “President Barack Obama: Why I’m Optimistic,”
Smithsonian
, August 2010,
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/40th-anniversary/President-Barack-Obama-Why-Im-Optimistic.html
.

[58]
Ibid.

[59]
William J. Bennett,
The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators: American Society at the End of the Twentieth Century
(New York: Broadway Books, 1999), pp. 5–6.

[60]
William J. Bennett,
A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2009), p. 275.

[61]
Larry Kudlow, “Never Sell America Short,” National Review Online, September 18, 2008,
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/225720/never-sell-america-short/larry-kudlow
.

[62]
Larry Kudlow, “No ‘End of the World’ Stock Market Trade,” National Review Online, April 12, 2011,
http://www.nationalreview.com/kudlows-money-politics/264529/no-end-world-stock-market-trade
.

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