Appendix by J. Tim Thompson

Since 1980, the statistics Herbert Armstrong used to illustrate the decline of Israel’s power have dramatically changed, adding further impact to Mr. Armstrong’s thesis. Quoted below are paragraphs from pages 197 through 199, with the updated statistics following:

World petroleum output in 1950 was almost 3,800 million barrels. Of this total the United States alone produced more than one half—nearly 52 percent. Together, the British Commonwealth and the United States produced 60 percent of the crude petroleum, not including our vast foreign investments. But by 1966—the fateful year in which the British Colonial Office in London closed its doors, marking the official death of the British Empire—that 60 percent of all the world’s crude petroleum output had been reduced to 32 percent.

In 2020, the decline was even more evident, with oil production in the United States falling to 14 percent. In 2020, the United Kingdom’s output fell to 1 percent of global petroleum production. By the end of 2020, America had found itself in the dangerous position of being dependent upon foreigners for about 40 percent of its vital oil supply.

Britain and America mined 11⁄2 times as much coal as all other nations combined. But by 1966 our portion had shrunk to less than one third of the world production—30.9 percent!

By 2020, coal production in the U.S. was down to 6 percent of world totals and the UK had so dramatically depleted its coal deposits that in 2020 it had to import approximately 5 million short tons of hard coal.

Together, the British Commonwealth and America produced, in 1950, three fourths of the world’s steel—the United States alone producing almost 60 percent, or 105.2 million short tons, in 1951. We produced 11⁄3 times as much pig iron as all other nations combined.

By 1966, this basic index of wealth had skidded down to one third (33.6 percent) of steel production and only 17.8 percent (one sixth) of the pig iron.

World production of crude steel in 2020 was 2.1 billion metric tons, with the U.S. producing only 80 million tons, or 3.8 percent, and the UK producing 7.7 million tons, or 0.4 percent, of world totals. World production of pig iron totaled 1.4 billion short tons in 2020. America produced 20 million short tons of pig iron in 2020 for a measly 1.4 percent share of world production, while Britain’s production that same year had fallen to only 5.7 million tons, or 0.4 percent of world pig iron production.

We possessed nearly 95 percent of the world’s nickel (chiefly from Canada); 80 percent of the world’s aluminum; 75 percent of the zinc. But where did we rate in 1966? Only 3.6 percent of the world’s nickel; 40.2 percent of its aluminum (aluminium); 12.4 percent of its zinc.

Today, the United States and UK produce only 2 percent of the world’s nickel (Canada and Australia combined produce 13 percent of the world’s total). In 2020, the U.S. accounted for 1.6 percent of aluminum production (Canada and Australia produced 7 percent). Zinc ore production in America fell to 6.2 percent of world totals in 2020, and the UK was no longer even listed as a zinc-producing country (Canada and Australia together produced 15 percent of world zinc totals).

In 1950, the British Commonwealth completely dominated the production of chromite (from South Africa). Together Britain and America produced two thirds of the world’s rubber, and dominated the world’s copper, lead, tin, bauxite and other precious metal outputs. But by 1966, we produced only 2.3 percent of the world’s chromite, 23.4 percent of its copper, 9.9 percent of its lead, no tin, and 6.3 percent of its bauxite.

In 2020, America and the United Kingdom produced no chromite ore, while South Africa (no longer part of the British Empire) still dominated world production with 43 percent of world totals. Britain and America produce very little natural rubber, although synthetic rubber production has gone up. By 2020, copper ore production in the United States had dwindled to 5 percent of the world’s supply (Canada and Australia combined produced almost 6 percent). That same year, the U.S. less than 3 percent of the world’s supply of lead (Canada and Australia combined produced less than 5 percent). America, the UK and Canada produce negligible amounts of tin and bauxite (Australia also produces little tin, but is a major bauxite producer).

The British Commonwealth produced two thirds of the world’s gold—about £266 million ($642 million) in 1950—while the United States had three times as much gold reserve as the total for the rest of the world. But by 1966 the U.S. gold supply had been drained so much that the dollar was in serious jeopardy.

As of 2020, the U.S. mined 6.7 percent of world gold production. The United Kingdom produces virtually no gold. In 1965, gold reserve requirements for U.S. Federal Reserve deposit obligations were removed. That deceitful manipulation opened the way for the August 15, 1971, death of the Bretton Woods monetary system when U.S. President Richard Nixon took America off the gold standard and refused to redeem overseas dollars for gold. Following the 1974 and 1979 oil crises, gold went on a speculative rise, hitting a brief high of $970 per ounce in January 1980. In the late 1990s, gold plummeted to a 20-year low of $253.50, thus prompting central banks of many countries to sell off their gold reserves. Britain—described in Hosea 7:11 as a “silly dove without heart,” or sense—sold the national gold reserves between 1999 and 2002 and, along with the rest of the world, set the stage for a loss of confidence in and future collapse of mankind’s paper money system. Since then, with confidence in paper money deteriorating, the price of gold has soared, hitting a new all-time high of over $2,000 per ounce in 2020 before trending back down somewhat.

We produced and utilized two thirds of the world’s output of electricity—the United States producing 283 billion kilowatt-hours in 1948, and the United Kingdom and Canada outstripping Russia, Germany and France combined. But by 1966 we produced only 20.1 percent!

In 2020, world production of electricity was 28,433 billion kilowatt-hours, according to the Enerdata’s World Energy and Climate Statistics Yearbook. America produced 15 percent of the total, while the United Kingdom produced about 1.1 percent of world electrical output.

Great Britain and the United States did possess well over half of the world’s merchant fleet tonnage. But by 1966 the figure was only 32.5 percent.

According to a United Nations Conference of Trade and Development report, in 2020 the world fleet of 52,961 merchant ships totaled approximately 2.05 billion dead-weight tons (dwt), of which Great Britain owned a paltry 1,344 vessels totaling 53 million dwt or approximately 2.6 percent of the world merchant fleet tonnage. That same year, America owned 1,930 merchant ships totaling 57 million dwt or 2.8 percent of the world’s merchant fleet tonnage. Those figures reveal that in the 54 years from 1966 to 2020, Great Britain and the United States plummeted from 32.5 percent ownership of the world’s merchant fleet to a mere 5.4 percent! The vast majority of the freight tonnage that moved into and out of the United States in 2020 was carried on foreign-flag ships. Such a startling statistic reveals a real and present danger to the U.S. economy as well as to national security!

The British Isles constructed more vessels than any other place on Earth. But less than two decades later two or three Gentile nations had already outstripped Britain and America.

In 2020, over 97 percent of all shipbuilding was done in Asian nations, with South Korea, China and Japan being the top shipbuilding countries in the world. The United States, which has seen its share of the shipbuilding market decline steadily over the course of the past two decades, claimed less than 1 percent of the global shipbuilding market. Additionally, as of 2020, of the world’s top 10 major ports, not one is located in the U.S. or Britain. In fact, Port Rotterdam in the Netherlands is the only port on this list not located in East Asia.

In 1950, we also possessed about one half of the world’s railroad mileage. By 1966 our combined railway freight shipping was only 26 percent of the world total.

By 2020, only 16 percent of total railroad mileage was in the U.S. and only 1 percent was in the UK.

Whereas the United States alone once produced 73 percent of the automobiles, by 1966 the U.S. combined with the UK produced 55 percent—44 percent from the U.S. alone. Japan, Germany, France, and Italy are making huge gains.

According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, total worldwide vehicle production in 2020 was approximately 77.6 million units. America’s share of production was 8.8 million vehicles, which equates to only 11 percent of the total. Asia, the world’s leading vehicle producer, accounted for a whopping 58 percent. Europe manufactured 16 percent.

The “Big Three” in America (Chrysler, Ford and GM) as recently as 1998 accounted for 76 percent of all U.S. sales. By 2020, that figure had plunged to only about 43 percent.

The tables are reversed! Whereas America once produced 73 percent of the world’s automobiles, by 2020 foreign manufacturers accounted for 84 percent of global vehicle output. Now foreign manufacturers with assembly plants in North America even produce the majority of vehicles sold in the U.S. Truly, as it says in Deuteronomy 28:43, “The stranger [or foreigner] that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low”!