The current American collapse isn't entirely caused by their own natural internal dynamics and cycles of decay, but also by nudging external influences. For example, China indirectly constantly drains US resources with this non-stop military, geopolitical, technological, intelligence, perception, cold war.
For example, the stronger China's military is, the more into deficit the US government needs to go to spend on their own now fully corrupt stagnant MIC, and other external-based spending, to try and compete. New YouTube channels against China, bots, agents, media articles...
Same as other spending, the US really has no business trying to make many such ambitious delusional attempts at high tech, space, overseas military overextension, etc, before re-establishing basic industry, infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and inner socio-political order in general first.
This is how the US bled the USSR dry leading to its demise. So it is not that the US stopped being 'thriving' entirely on its own. China also had played a great deal in this whether Westoids admitted it after the collapse, and learned something from it or not, so it is still 'glorious thing'.
Essentially, China is continuously 'throwing them a bone' that the Americans aren't capable of taking now, but they still take it due to maintaining their imperial image.
