I was told by economic historians that if the Us ever lost its status at the biggest economic power in the world, it would pale in comparison to a nuclear attack or 911 combined. The reason is that the Us projects its power primarily throught economic power. Look at russia. it has nukes, a large miltary, but its bascially a regional power. Once the warsaw economic block broke apart, all of its power disapated, and its relagated to minor status. so it begs the question, when china overtakes the us, is that a greater threat then any terriost attack? Look at what happened when the roman empire or british empire fell. Either its complete economic collapse or 2nd world status with no real power or no control over our destiny.