The present crisis did not come out of the blue, it has been in the making for decades, accelerated by deregulation, privatisation, and other economic rationalist policies (neo-liberalism), globalisation and the domination of larger and larger and ever more power­ful monopolies. The most powerful and greedy, the most parasitic and non-productive of these were the giant financial conglomerates. They built the shaky house of cards that spans the globe and is crumbling today.

Nobody is daring to predict the outcome of the present financial crisis, not even how many years it might take to work through. With foreign sovereign funds lined up to take the pickings and massive new debts accumulating to foreign central banks and more takeovers in the wings, the control and ownership of private investment capital is set for a very substantial restructuring and with it considerable shift in economic and political power.
Spending more on the military and starting more wars will not restore the US as the sole super power. US imperialism looks set to be substantially weakened as an international power, although not any less dangerous or desperate to assert global domination.

China is on the ascendancy, and other economic centres including, India and Russia, pose serious threats to US economic interests. Europe also poses a challenge, but it remains to be seen how well it can shore itself up against US developments.

Such shifts in power have been in process for some time; this financial crisis could see them take a new leap forward.