In Robb's case we'll spend ourselves into a weakened state creating openings for terrorists. While I acknowledge that a nation can't deficit spend its way to perpetual prosperity or comfort I have confidence that the (mostly) free U.S. economy can grow through much of the impending entitlement troubles. Thomas Barnett's books have done much to reinforce this belief.

I'll let you take your pick: naivety or optimism. Then sprinkle on some good, old fashioned hope.

I'll have to check out the book to dig into this part of his argument.

the thirst of politicians for more tax money can't be satiated. Taxes keep going up, rarely down.

Yep, in terms of property taxes and whatnot. But there is a longstanding trend of giving massive tax breaks to corporations to lure them in. Increasingly, taxes are being generated by passing them on to those who don't have any say-so: Commuter taxes, hotel taxes, and the like that are paid by those who can't vote in the locality. There's only so much of that that can happen.

the U.S. has more nodes and a larger economic base for better resilience.

He's worried that we'll bankrupt ourselves by continuing to invest more in security the last target set while guerrillas move on to new ones. Given that we're already going to be spending hundreds of billions on entitlement spending on an aging population, that's a problem.

Ever watch how states compete for a factory? They bleed each other to death with tax giveaways. Our ability to raise taxes only gets more and more difficult over time.

I can only use my home state of Wisconsin as an example but the thirst of politicians for more tax money can't be satiated. Taxes keep going up, rarely down.

Also, while a small state like Estonia might be harmed by an attack on their infrastructure, namely a cyber-attack, the U.S. has more nodes and a larger economic base for better resilience.