Overextended superpower

Is the United States, with its hyperactive (and expensive) foreign and defence policies, heading towards third-world status? Neil Macdonald raises this possibility: Washington's reluctance to pay the piper. If he's right, Canada can hardly afford to gloat. Our federal budget may be in a surplus position at the moment, but our economy is heavily dependent on that of our closest neighbour. What happens to the US will inevitably affect us as well.