I mean, it has objectively declined from a point in time where it held dominion over one in four of the world's souls, keeping most of them in poverty as it sip

I mean, it has objectively declined from a point in time where it held dominion over one in four of the world's souls, keeping most of them in poverty as it siphoned resources out of them, and blocked their own economic development, by dumping its own products into their markets at gunpoint. And that decline is a good thing. More recently? It's been making some effort towards burning the furniture.