here and get back on track and then we can do a better job international >> i harvard's niall ferguson says military spending does have something to do with it, but, of course, he brings it right back to the debt. >> there's a kind of magic moment in the history of all empires when suddenly they find themselves spending more on paying the interest on the debt than they pay on national security, that they are paying more in the treasury securities than in the national security, if you like, and this was true for spain in the 1770s, happened to france in the 18th century and to the ottoman empire in the 19th century and the british empire in the 20th and happening to the united states now, and i would say at the risk of overreaching a little bit, there's a law of history here that once a great power or an empower or hegemon, you can call it yourself what you like, once you are spending more on servicing that debt than you are spending on your army and navy and air force, it's probably the end of the line. >> will the united states meet the same fate as the british empire?