> Did the US lose control of the most populous part of its “empire” in the last 20 years?
I might count alienating NATO and China's growing independence as uncomfortably close to that, yes.
> Has the US just come off of required rationing for basic food stuffs and been running in 20 years of austerity?
Doesn't that make our inability to effectively project power more embarassing? We don't even have to scrap our warships to fund operations; we're dismantling our global soft power sources willingly.
> Or is the US still the dominant economy in the world, with a problem of over abundance of staples and stuff?
Like the UK once was?