Trump cements end to US ‘global empire’ – and the economic damage ‘will be huge’: expert

Richard Wolff, a renowned economics professor, issued a grave prediction recently that not only would the United States ultimately “lose” its war against Iran, but that the loss would bring about an end to the U.S. “global empire” that had stood unrivaled for more than six decades.

“The United States operated for the last 65, 70 years on empire, a global empire,” said Wolff, who teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in a video interview published this week.

“The U.S. dollar was the currency used everywhere in the world, the U.S. Navy protected shipping and made sure that the United States got what it wanted out of any other country in the world. People like you and me, we lived in a time when the American empire was dominant and it was growing. Here comes the hard part: that part of American history is over! It's not coming back, it's done.”

Iran appears to have emerged from the conflict with the United States as a new “major world power,” having been able to withstand the full military might of the United States and survive largely intact. As such, Wolff argued, the global perception of the United States would likely shift following the war, and to such an extent as to cause great economic damage.

“The damage to the American economy, which is already declining, will be huge. Every small country in the world has had their problems with the United States. Now they can imagine winning,” Wolff said.

“They haven't been able to imagine that for 75 years, and that's a new exciting option. When you put that together with the fact that they can turn to China to buy and sell almost everything, what do they need the United States for?”

And, as noted by Wolff, the decision to launch the U.S. war against Iran was made by President Donald Trump, who he described as “not the sharpest knife in the drawer.”

“Not a good time to be Donald Trump, even in MAGA land, they're having doubts about it,” Wolff said.