In an opinion piece, Jan Ting, professor at Temple's Beasley School of Law, writes of concerns he shares with Harvard historian Niall Ferguson, who specializes in the rise and fall of empires. Fergusons's thesis is that current the world economic crisis presages the end of the 500-year rise of Western civilization and its replacement by China. Ting urges readers to call on the government to move toward deficit reduction by acting on proposals for cuts in Social Security benefits, in Medicare and Medicaid expenditures, and in both defense and non-defense spending.