Is the US Empire in the Middle of a Long Decline? | The Bottom Line

May 11, 2026 | When the United States threatens to take over countries and destroy civilisations, “these are the wild gesticulations of a sinking enterprise”, argues Richard Wolff, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts.

Wolff tells host Steve Clemons that US leaders refuse to face the reality that the US empire is in decline. Around the world, he adds, people are “deeply internalising” the lessons from the US's inability to defeat Iran.

The people in the US are becoming “bitterly angry” at their situation, where the richest 10 percent of Americans own 80 percent of corporate stocks, making the stock market “utterly irrelevant” to the masses.


Trump is a dunce in clown’s clothing! — © Mark Alexander