What are the first signs of the decline of an Empire?

Question

What are the first signs of the decline of an Empire?
Are we seeing them now?

Answer

The usual answer would be a collapse of infrastructure. Thats more or less how the Roman Empire fell, when the provinces were depleted of competent local government. The Soviet Union experience a similar collapse as the amount of funding on the military drained away from the domestic economy.brbrIs the United States heading for a similar collapse? Possibly. A lot of our urban areas are pretty much drained of tax revenue as the affluent moved to the suburbs. Some cities have made efforts to combat the deterioration of the inner city, but many have left them neglected. However, given that the country as a whole still has electrical power, telephone service, and sewage treatment, along with reasonably decent roadways, I doubt that the nation is headed towards a truly national calamity in the next few years.