Has the Anglo-Saxon peaked?

For the best part of a century, the Anglo-Saxons have been the world’s dominant ethnic group. Together they produce a third of the world’s total economic output.

But these five countries of English origin – America, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – may have collectively peaked.

As the world goes through a power shift, the Anglo-Saxons – as they’re colloquially known – may have to accept a less dominant future economically, politically, militarily, culturally (including on the sports field) and even morally.

Economically each year, the group (thanks to $14 trillion from the US) produces US$20 trillion of the world’s $58 trillion in total economic output (GDP).

This is led by the dominance of the finance industry (including the World Bank and IMF), the oil industry (they own five of the six ‘big’ private companies) and the enormous private wealth that has been built up through the generations.

And although they only represent a small share of the world’s population (430 million out of 6.8 billion) they have 400 million relatively well-off, powerful consumers to bargain global traders with.

This economic power feeds into the group’s political dominance. Britain and America are two of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council which calls the shots on most world affairs.

International projects like getting a climate change agreement generally need the go ahead from the US if they have any chance of progress.

And then there is America’s military dominance. In any given year the US spends more on defence then the rest of the world combined – a whopping $1 trillion.

Culturally, even more influential than having the world’s best universities is having the world’s most powerful entertainment source. Hollywood and the British film industry have led the way in shaping people’s attitudes and promoting the Anglo-Saxon way of life.

This, along with business, has helped to make English the de facto world language.

Global sports like tennis and golf (though not soccer), as well as the Olympics have been disproportionately dominated by the Anglo five.

And finally, perhaps given all these factors, Anglo-Saxons have a smug superiority when it comes to morality and values.

They have told other countries how to rule their people and how all businesses (even precious natural resources) must be owned privately for the sake of efficiency.

They have promoted the idea that the individual is more important than the community – a mantra of “let everyone stand on their own two feet to succeed (or fail) for themselves.”

But recent events have suggested things may be about to change.

Over the past decade, America’s super rich doubled their income while the median family income declined by $2,200.

This has seen the emergence of a “nouveau poor”, where previously middle class people are downgrading their standard of living to survive.

America now has the highest level of childhood poverty (at 18%) and the highest overall poverty rate in the rich world.

Britain and Canada will suffer from America’s decline, and as a sign of the times, Britain’s leaders were recently in India asking for trade favours to promote their goods and services (severe British government cuts are weakening demand at home).

Economically, Australia and New Zealand with little manufacturing but impressive mineral and agricultural wealth respectively, actually have little to lose and a lot to gain from the power shifting eastwards.

And thanks to that shift, the power among other nationalities is growing.

Earlier this week China, with its cheap labour, wealthy government and growing banks and oil companies, overtook Japan as the second largest economy in the world.

India, who also has over a billion people, is economically growing just as fast, while Indonesia is showing quiet promise.

Latin America, led by Brazil, is slowly spreading its wealth and simultaneously turning its back on American control.

The US still has a major influence in the UN and world affairs but other players like China and Russia are getting harder to please, and provide a powerful alternative for smaller countries to side with.

Military weapons are being made cheaper in China (who is slowly building up its forces). Hollywood is still the major player in global entertainment but is having problems too.

On the sports field, tennis is dominated by Eastern Europeans, golf will soon be inundated with talented East Asians, and China stamped its dominance on the Olympics in 2008.

Governments are looking at encouraging more Mandarin in schools and Spanish and Portuguese will no doubt follow.

Morally, the Anglo-Saxon idea of small government and capitalism has been battered by the global financial crisis.

Now resource-rich and cash-flush governments in Asia and the Persian Gulf are buying up Western assets and driving down poverty on their own terms.

The dominant Anglo-Saxon is certainly not over. But the answer of whether they have peaked is almost certainly yes. They’ll still be hefty participants at the table, but just not as loud and obnoxious as once before.

By The Casual Truth