In 2008, when the US National Intelligence Council issued its latest report meant for the administration of newly elected President Barack Obama, it predicted that the planet's 'sole superpower' would suffer a modest decline and a soft landing 15 years hence. In his new book, The United States of Fear, Tom Engelhardt makes it clear that Americans should don their crash helmets and buckle their seat belts, because the US is on the path to a major decline at a startling speed.