An interesting turn of phrase in title of this Fox News article. I sense our position as top dog in the world is pretty much over:

WASHINGTON — Five years and one financial crisis since the United States and China commenced regular high-level economic talks, fast-growing Beijing might have the upper hand this week in the latest round of discussions between the world’s two biggest economies.

China faces threats of penalties against goods shipped to its largest foreign market unless it does more to end what U.S. manufacturers say are unfair trade practices, including currency manipulation, that have cost American jobs.

At the same time, America’s biggest foreign creditor wants assurances that its $1.2 trillion in U.S. Treasury holdings are safe despite uncertainty in Washington over how much money the U.S. can borrow to pay its bills. If Congress fails to increase that borrowing limit before August, that probably would send interest rates soaring and reduce the value of those Chinese investments.

While analysts don’t foresee major breakthroughs at the talks Monday and Tuesday, China’s expanding economic might will give it greater leverage now.

[…]

At the meetings, China is expected to raise concerns about the standoff between the administration and Congress on raising the government’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit. Geithner has told Congress that the U.S. could default on its debt if the limit isn’t raised by Aug. 2.

“The Chinese are concerned about this issue because they hold a lot of U.S. debt,” said Prasad. “The Chinese are astounded that the U.S. government would let the debate get to the stage where there is even a remote possibility of a default.”

China is worried about our finances – expect their dumping of our treasuries to accelerate.

This has been being passed around for a couple of weeks and conspiracy minded folks are going nuts with the HAARP talk but the truth is that we’re having some pretty bad winters and, according to my Farmer’s Almanac, unusually cool summers. I told you that a new Ice Age was starting.

From MSNBC:

SALMON, Idaho — A record number of big-game animals perished this winter in parts of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming from a harsh season of unusually heavy snows and sustained cold in the Northern Rockies, state wildlife managers say.

“Elk, deer and moose — those animals are having a pretty tough time,” said Wyoming Game and Fish biologist Doug Brimeyer.

Snow and frigid temperatures in pockets of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming arrived earlier and lingered longer than usual, extending the time that wildlife were forced to forage on low reserves for scarce food, leading more of them to starve.

Based on aerial surveys of big-game herds and signals from radio-collared animals, experts are documenting high mortality among offspring of mule deer, white-tailed deer and pronghorn antelope

[…]

Wildlife managers estimate die-offs in the tens of thousands across thousands of square miles that span prairie in northeastern Montana, the upper Snake River basin in Idaho near Yellowstone National Park and the high country of northwestern Wyoming near the exclusive resort of Jackson.

Brimeyer said the estimated death rate doubled among deer fawns in the Jackson area this year, rising to 60 percent or more from 30 percent.

He said many thousands more elk have crowded the feeding grounds of the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, yet another sign of the toll winter is exacting.

The trend also is pronounced in a wildlife management area near McCall in the mountains of central Idaho, where the estimated mortality rate among mule deer fawns is 90 percent this winter, compared with an average annual rate of 20 percent.

We’re not going to be far behind mule deer if the temperature keeps dropping, or if we even sustain these lows as crops and feed animals fail. I saw that my beets were doing well but my tomatoes and peppers aren’t, beets do well in cool weather but i planted some late to see how they’d do. I guess we need to go cold weather crops next year.

The book isn’t perfect but Not by Fire but by Ice by Robert Felix is a book you all should read. Also now is the time to take up canning if you haven’t already.