for Chalmers Johnson's article published in: Le Monde diplomatique Feb 2008, click on

http://mondediplo.com/2008/02/05military

-"As a result, going into 2008, the United States finds itself in the anomalous position of being unable to pay for its own elevated living standards or its wasteful, overly large military establishment"-

There is no 'or'.

Elevated living standards? For whom? People who shill for the the real reason we are being and have been raped. The other part of the 'or'. The corporate military fascism we live under.

I don't know who Chalmers Johnson is but he reads like a superficial hack writer for the usual arms of propaganda.