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It's very obvious that 
is circling the drain now, but clearly this didn't just happen in a vacuum. It must've started crumbling at some point... but when?
Some people might say it started after 9/11, others might say it goes back to the Raegan administration. A few might even say it started after losing the Vietnam War, or when they went off the gold standard. Or maybe even earlier...
What do you think? 
Agree with this. The post-ww2 period was the height / peak of US power, militarily and economically, and by the 70s it started it's slow decline, esp in manufacturing. They do a lot of things to forestall it, like converting from an industry to finance capital, but you can't keep that up forever.