Before, life in America was easy. One could socially hate the Soviets, and this was made the biggest national sport. After the fall of the USSR, all that hate had to go somewhere.

Much of the rest of the world doesn't suffer this problem. It is fashionable to hate America, for it's crude oil fueled lifestyle, or for what she made after the first peak to keep the American dream running.

I hope that after the American Empire ends, the winners don't proceed to humiliate America and we get the good end in Twilight's Last Gleaming, and America doesn't pull a Samson, throwing a fit of "if I can't take over the world, no one will."