China will need to build more entertainment structures or their morale will drop quickly due to overpopulation.

Russia fell from economic power and it was still considered a superpower. Whether china surpasses it or not america will alway be there for better or worse. Chine owns 1.5 trillion in reserves, most in U.S. dollors. That means China is holding the key to the american dream. Americans have more money and are living better then should as China is bolstering the U.S. economy. As soon as that changes there will be a stock market crash and basicly the U.S. is fucked.

Luckly Canada wont be as bad off! Yeah for Canada!

Cheers Everybody

Hahaha.. I love that.

In all seriousness, China is on the way up. Would it be so bad to be 2nd? America is due for some dramatic changes.

Chinas success has mainly to due with their low health and labor laws.

At the moment, China and the United States have a necessary and symbiotic relationship, regardless of political and ideological disagreements. This may eventually change as production current in China shifts to other Asian nations, including India. What is not often realized is that the services China provides to us can be, in time, replaced.

However, what we provide to China may not be replaced so easily. There is a lot of concern about China's rapid growth, but realistically, it is simply not sustainable, especially with their internationally disagreeable economic tactics.

Yet we can be replaced, easily or not. What happens to our position in the world 20 years from now will depend very greatly on the next five years.

Coincidentally, the obvious answer to this question is, in the long-term: no, of course not. It's foolish to think so.

But for the next 100 years? Possibly.

one day, someone, somewhere, will suddenly notice that The United States is no longer the one calling the shots around the world. It will not happen suddenly, it will happen as it always has for empires, slowly.

It is inevitable. However if you look at history and the timeframe that empires rise, Platow and then decline, then The USA has about another 150-200 years under it's belt before it will really begin its slow decline. If history holds up in it pattern it will be in the latter part of the 23rd century that we will no longer be the preeminent power in the world and sometime around the 25th we will likely cease to exist as a coherent civilization.

It is funny; I am listening to ballads of the Green Berets by SSgt Barry Sadler. I put it on for the first time in years and then came across this post.

Yes, America will one day fall, but not today!

I don’t see any way the USA is replaced by China as the worlds sole superpower, sure it’s GDP is growing with extreme speed (due primarily to American investments), and it’s population is massive but those two things do not make a superpower, Americas GDP is still the highest in the world (with the possible exception of the EU but that entity is not a country) it’s military is (in conventional warfare) effectively invincible, and despite the constant stream of news about a recession (defined by 6 months of negative GDP growth) the USA’s GDP is still growing (at slower rate than usual however). Not to mention that China has finally been forced to end it’s practice of devaluing it’s currency, has plenty of domestic unrest, and judging by the reaction to it’s hosting of the Olympic games is extremely unpopular in the world. So in short I don’t see China surpassing the US in superpower status, a status which might be irrelevant if the powerful trend of globalization continues to make the world smaller.

BRIC. If you don't know what the term means, that means you'll be shocked within a few years. Greatly.

Brazil, Russia, India and China, all have a large number of problems that prevent them from reaching their assumed potential, all have a very impoverished population, none have so far lived up to their supposed economic potential, Russia’s population is actually declining and finally predicting the futures of any of these volatile countries is impossible

I have to agree with SpacePony...mostly Nothing lasts forever, but I think the United States will still exist as a "coherent civilization" unless some form of global government comes about (like that will happen) I doubt the United States would break apart like the USSR did, and I doubt the United States would fall like the Roman Empire did. But the United States will not fall very far any time soon.

Even if our stock market crashes, we will recover. And the economy is very much tied together globally now. If our economy crashes, so will the economies in other major nations around the world. Maybe not as devastating as what we may have, but every major economy in the world will feel it in some shape or form, whether their exports to america decrease, or whatever...

The thing is, if Brazil, Russia, India or China ceased to exist, the world will feel MUCH greater effects than if the US suddenly disappeared. If the US disappeared, people would rise up a heck of a lot of dust over the internet, but eventually(within 2 months), everything the US gives the world predominantly(mainly movies, music and... well, that's it), would be replaced with products from France and the UK. Whereas the BRIC lands are irreplaceable. Even with their problems taken into account(personal freedoms, coverage, economic stability) they will, by the year 2050(very much likely sooner) completely take over the world economics market.
BradenK, sure, the world will feel the impact of the disappearance of the US. Briefly. But can you imagine the impact of a Chinese block on all exports? That's a mild effect(compared to revolution, wars, ceasing to exist, etc.), and it's scarry stuff!

What about the rising Arab populations in Europe? Immigration is big in Europe. How big? This big- "Immigration already accounts for 70% of EU population growth in the past five years, with most of the immigrants going to Italy, Britain, and Germany."

-http://www.ismi.emory.edu/Articles/InternationalPress/Tel%20Aviv%20Notes.html

That means that most countries could soon be run by Arabs. Arabs don't like us. There are powerful nukes in Europe. We are running around shooting people in Arab countries. What problem will this cause?

no all great empire eventually die out and become weak sadly enough it may happen sooner then we think

I disagree will the though of China or any other country surpassing the US any time soon. Yes, they are all growing economically, yes they supply much of the labor force and lands. But you are missing one very important factor.

Most of those entities in those foreings countries, the owners of all those factories, the big guys. Most of them are Americans.

As such it if foolish to think that Brazil, Russia, India, or China would supplant the US as the most influential Superpower. IMHO, the US is the head, while the other countries are the arms and legs.

Look at Venezuela, since the goverment took control of the oil production, they are having trouble maintaining and running their oil industry without trained and experienced personel from the US. The same thing will happen to China if it try to cut off the US. China's citizens are not well educated nor are they rich enough to start investing in multimillion dollars industries.

Farmers and factory workers can not sustain a capitalist country.

We may eventually all grow weak in America and not be a super power. But America will never die. If America dies, the entire world goes with us because of our nukes. Plain and simple. Or, there is an asteroid impact that destroys the world, or some other event that would have to devestate our entire planet for America to die off completely.