First-Class Passengers on a Sinking ShipThe extent and irreversibility of US decline is becoming ever more obvious as America loses war after war and as one industry after another loses its technological edge. Lachmann explains why the United States will not be able to sustain its global dominance. He contrasts Americas relatively brief period of hegemony with the Netherlands similarly short primacy and Britains far longer era of leadership. Decline in all those cases was not inevitable and