Is America weakening?

[ben-the-slacker]

Ok, I know this is probably gonna get flamed, so try to keep your emotions in check before you read this article. That means no lame France or any other nation-trashing. I wanna hear a good debate on why you think this guy's argument is/isn't flawed.

http://dominionpaper.ca/features/200...ed_empire.html

[Chuckiechan]

The author has made two flawed assumptions.

First, he assumes that the USA wants to dominate the world and control it as the French, Spanish, English, and other Europeans once did.

Second, that the United States historical ambitions are the same as France's were in the 1600-1950 year period when they were colonizing foreign countries for raw materials.

Through his eyes, America looks huge. As a former colonizing power, the world looks ripe for America's taking just as France (and others) once took over the known "world".

The Americal haters will say we do colonize countries. Which ones? Japan? South Korea? Germany? They are doing fine. How about former colonies of France: Viet Nam, Cambodia, parts of Africa, and others. Spain: Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and others.

How are they doing? The difference is the business model. America's business is business, not colonies.

[ClubMed]

The article makes sense, and the ideas and theories in it are not new, this is far from America-bashing. In fact you can replace the word ‘America’ and put in it’s place any country that is in the same position as America today, the outcome will be the same.

The national debt in America is massive, correct me if I am wrong but I seem to remember that it is around 6-7 trillion dollars. The current gross GDP is around 4-6 trillion. One of the things that is in the process of breaking Americas back, hence ending the period of ‘empire’ is the worlds largest military, it’s massive and it’s becoming more and more expensive to maintain, especially since it will become more and more computerized and technological.

Another factor as mentioned in the article is the rivalry between nations, for a while things were in Americas favor because there existed few large enough blocks, but now the EU is solidifying not only in ideology but also as a united economy that can act as one, this is a great factor that stands in the path of any country that is a superpower, a superpower can only survive while most countries are fragmented and while there is no other rival.

Yet another factor is the participation in other countries affairs both economic and political, in other words ‘expansion’. The more you expand the thinner will your resources become, and this is the case today, Americas expansion happened very rapidly (within a mere 60-80 years) and is soon going to reach a capacity that cannot be maintained with the current access to resources.

Finally as mentioned in the article, times are changing, the world is becoming more complicated, it no longer functions as ‘simply’ (relative term) as it did shortly after the end of WWII or even before then.

I have often mentioned that in Americas case, it seems like there is going to be an economic implosion if things remain as they are. I think it’s also a natural cycle, superpowers naturally reach their limits quickly because during a certain period of time they have access to a huge amount of resources, other countries, notably smaller countries survive because they expand at a much smaller pace due to fewer resources.

*1 One important point mentioned by Todd is that America at the moment has made a step backwards and has become a classic suporpower, in other words the main pillar is the military. This reflects superpowers of the past where a large army was sufficient. But it is no longer the main pillar for strength today, and unless the American economy can be revived the days of a 'uni-polar' world are numbered.

I don’t see a flawed argument here, only a very realistic, and possible outcome.

Edit: added *1

[Mike]

All I have to say is this: Every country can't be the best forever... It's only a matter of time before we crumble, and hopefully I am not alive when that happens.

[tarpat1]

And even if you are alive, its not like every building will collapse at once when and if people realize that the US is not the lone superpower. Wouldnt the UK have been considered a super power in the 'colonial age' when having colonies was they way to be powerful. I dont remember seeing that the UK burst into flame when the world no longer considered it a superpower. They have gone on just fine.

The author seems to forget or maybe not, that the political scene in Washington and the seemingly 'clumsiness' with which the current administration handles certain situations can change radically with one election.

Hey and if its time then its time. All I am saying is that the US wont crumble to pieces if we arent the only big kid on the block, who knows we may even flourish once people come to the realization that the world has changed.

[cbuddha42]

america will fall becuase it spends far too much time and far to many resources helping or trying not to harm other countries. the military is a good example. in our effort not to harm those we consider "innocent" the us spent an ungodly amount fighting the war in iraq. we only need the millions of men and fleets of ships ect. because we chose to fight a man vs. man war insted of dropping a nuke on iraq. if the resources spent on mantaining and expanding the military had been spent on developing a missile deffense shield the us wouldn't even need to worry about other countries trying to strike back. a quickly expanding country such as the us must eaither continue to expand by gainning more territory/bring more territory into its sphere of influance, or must increase its draw from other countries. if it fails to do one of these things it will decline as other countries expand. the us is actually losing influance. in effect as the common enemy fell other countries stopped giving into the us's every wish and whim. they started to take back what they considered theirs and as the us neglected to try and retain the "empire" it had. america must eaither take what it wants for itself or admit that its place as the sole world power is no longer a reality and focus on maintaining itself rather than other countries to avoid compleatly crashing.

[Prexaspes]

I think the author has underestimated America's ability to adapt to the changing world.

And the idea that we are relying on our military to stay in the position we are in is ludicrous.

America isn't going anywhere. At least not without the biggest, baddest, meanest fight you ever saw.

[Ed_S]

At least part of what he's got to say makes sense, and reinforces thoughts I've had & have tried to express a few times.

In 1945 fully half the manufactured goods in the world originated in the US.

<further down>

During the early 1970's a deficit in the balance of trade began to open. The US assumed the role of consumer and the rest of the world took on the role of producer, in this increasingly unbalanced global process.

Without manufacturing and the employment it brings, we WILL go down the tubes. We've been heading that way for a long time now, and we've only ourselves to blame. Companies all want cheaper labor and can get it elsewhere w/o severe financial punishment (import tax). Most consumers give "Made in the U.S.A." a low priority if the price is higher. People sneer at the thought of having factory jobs, like only uneducated low-lifes would take such employment.

Heck, many folks even think that foreign products are better & urge others to buy them! The worst example I can think of is vehicles. A common mindset is to think of our single largest remaining manufacturing industry as "American cars", rather than as OURS, and talk of how crappy they are. This was posted recently in another topic:

Get a Honda, Toyota, Nissan or Mazda. They will be as reliable as you can find.

I read that & saw red, but restrained myself. Why on Earth would any American recommend a foreign product over ours? You have a VESTED INTEREST in keeping American companies afloat, HOW can any American promote anything else????

Another example - anybody got a computer that was actually MADE here, not just assembled??
I thought not.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!