Leading economist Nouriel Roubini: This is the beginning of the decline of the American empire

In Sunday’s NYT magazine, a profile of NYU economics professor opened with a prescient observation Roubini made back in 2006: An impending housing bust could cripple or destroy financial institutions like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Today, at his blog Global EconoMonitor, Roubini goes on to give his prognosis of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression: prime mortgages defaulting in record numbers; suburbia facing plight; a recession lasting more than a year; small banks and financial institutions collapsing; and an end of the American empire as we know it. Registration for EconoMonitor is required, and it’s well worth it. After the jump are just a few of Roubini’s chilling predictions that spell an even longer road ahead for most Americans: