Is it possible the United States of America could fall as a country? My classmates and history teacher were discussing/arguing about this. If it is possible list reasons why and support it.
Anything is "ossible" and eventually yes, it will happen, however, I do not think it will happen in any short amount of time. As a whole, it is still strong. Currently going through an economic struggle, it still has a standing military and enough weight to throw around to deter most.
If we lose any major war, we would be crippled as a nation. Crippled economy leads to unrest, leads to rebellion, leads to attacks on the government, leads to division, leads to attacks from other countries, leads to either a government reform takeover by an outside country (like what we do with countries in the Middle East by putting a leader we like there) or a total invasive takeover.
No because we are the greatest country on this planet. BOOM HEADSHOT!
But it is possible, but unluckily, and unless something catastrophic happens I really don't see it happening any time in the near future. Besides, we have Digornio pizza AND COOKIES, America FTW
But it is possible, but unluckily, and unless something catastrophic happens I really don't see it happening any time in the near future.
The catastrophic event that you referred to is already in the past, it's called the Global Financial Crisis, it happened in 2008, and it simply made us aware of a reality that was approaching but never acknowledged. The fundamental point being that while the American Dream is something that a few can achieve (by being pioneering and enterprising, something you've witnessed simply by virtue of being on this site), it's also something many can't because when everything is on offer to everybody, inevitably there won't be enough for most. And that's where the problem is: a country whose ideals make one feel good in the delusion that around any corner, an affluent life beckons. It's a fragile illusion that was shattered for millions of people post-2008 when suddenly the banks foreclosed on their homes after realising that everybody had been cooking the books and all this money that supposedly existed... didn't. Some years on and the situation seems not to have changed much. How is a lesson to be learnt when a country was founded on principles that ultimately boil down to 'greed is good'?
And I wonder how all that political crisis in the Middle East is going. If it goes the wrong way, America's inevitable oil troubles are gonna become a whole lot more imminent.
Im mostly worried about what happens if the budget stays in the red and we dont solve the national debt because after i took AP econ i realized that anything you do to screw with an economy works in the other direction to. the dollar depreiciating do to inflation increases imports but decreases financial investments (forigners buying bonds) because of the exchange rate. after taking the course i realized im a mostly classical economist because the the only thing monetary policy is guaranteed to do is cause inflation, and the rest is like predicting the weather: there are definate side effects but you dont know which ones are going to be stronger and therefore what the effect on GDP will be so the current monetary policy really worries me and if nothing improves im worried well get huge inflation kinda like in the great depression because theyre doing about the same thing as far as i can tell. well live but its possible someone else might come out on top this time, probly china.
How is a lesson to be learnt when a country was founded on principles that ultimately boil down to 'greed is good'?
i think its more of self interest and a lot of the qoutes i read from the founding fathers talk more about good morals than greed its just a thought i think the problem is people took the founding fathers ideas of self sufficiency and read it as "no one else matters i can do whatever i need to survive" and then replaced survive with succeed. personally i believe that they werent as selfish as principled but the principles got distorted along the way. thats an opinion take it how u will
i think its more of self interest and a lot of the qoutes i read from the founding fathers talk more about good morals than greed its just a thought i think the problem is people took the founding fathers ideas of self sufficiency and read it as "no one else matters i can do whatever i need to survive" and then replaced survive with succeed. personally i believe that they werent as selfish as principled but the principles got distorted along the way. thats an opinion take it how u will
I quite agree with you, I didn't mean to say "boil down to" as in that was the intended interpretation. Perhaps "was ultimately interpreted as" would be a better phrase.
Either way I contend that the result, while likely unintended, was inevitable.
Im mostly worried about what happens if the budget stays in the red and we dont solve the national debt
How DO you solve a national debt like that? It's (and I'm not doing any math here so this is a figure of speech) on the level of Germany's Post WWI debt and you saw the natural conclusion to that. European nations (with the exception of Germany, it seems) are now facing a similar situation and so far some of them have managed a dodge, but certainly no solution.
well live but its possible someone else might come out on top this time, probly china.
For better or for worse, China already has a firm hold on the mantle that is "the next superpower". The public just hasn't figured out exactly how it's going to change things.
For better or for worse, China already has a firm hold on the mantle that is "the next superpower". The public just hasn't figured out exactly how it's going to change things.
true, but I doubt it will be the only next superpower, Indias economic growth is set to overtake Chinas in the next decade, we could end up with another Russia America type cold war situation
Throughout history, most great nations (e.g. Roman Empire, Persian Empire, etc) have collapsed mostly because of economic issues and military overuse and/or civil unrest.
The US acts just like the Romans did. It throws it's weight around and imposes its ideas on politics, freedom, education, economy, etc to everyone who is not like them. They then "conquer" them and replace the system and methods that were there before they came. If you think about it, the US is a modern empire that enforces its views on everything on many countries across the globe.
The biggest factors to be considered are its massive debt to the world (300 something trillion dollars US and rising) and its military. They cannot pay their debt and they can't over use their armies (i.e. fighting various causes at the time while maintaining bases all over the place) if they want to last a couple centuries longer.
I'm a diehard patriot, but I do think that eventually the United States will falter in world importance.
It's kinda sci-fi, but I think that eventually, extra-terrestrial expansion (the only way our species can ever hope to survive our ticking time-bomb of a sun, or over population) will become too expensive for one nation to fund, so the human race will have to unify for the greater good of the people.
Until then, I think the United States has enough friends and few enough enemies and a readily adaptable government that it can stand the test of time.
It takes a lot for a nation to truly "fall", a majority of the nations we know today have been in existence for hundreds of years, the only nation I can think of that "fell" is the Soviet Union. A nation remains in existence so long as the doctrines it was founded upon survive, be it one person or one hundred million. It would take much more than economic trouble and a few politicians with foot in mouth syndrome to bring down the US.
Indias economic growth is set to overtake Chinas in the next decade, we could end up with another Russia America type cold war situation
India won't become a super-power anytime soon. The reason is quite simple: It still uses the caste system. Almost a billion Indians live below the poverty level. India's economy is firstly agricultural and secondary modern industrial (e.g. Chicago, Detroit, Manchester in the 50's). Whereas super-powers have a post-modern economy (for example contemporary Los Angeles, London). A post-modern economy is based on the Tertiary sector of the economy and cultural products (i.e. music, movies, books, etc.). Furthermore, India is very politically unstable, they have enormous racial and religious problems. Plus, they are near Pakistan. Anyway, India is definitely an important regional center, however India is no global super-power.
It's kinda sci-fi, but I think that eventually, extra-terrestrial expansion (the only way our species can ever hope to survive our ticking time-bomb of a sun, or over population) will become too expensive for one nation to fund, so the human race will have to unify for the greater good of the people
I enjoy asking the question as to whether humanity as a whole could ever be sufficiently united to avert visions of their own demise, but this belongs in another topic!
I enjoy asking the question as to whether humanity as a whole could ever be sufficiently united to avert visions of their own demise, but this belongs in another topic!
Thoughtful, but the short answer is no. We've proved that for tens of thousands of years.
