I'm not going to make predictions about the global future. However, I think an important part of what makes the US a powerful country is its productive workforce. Check out this BBC article:

WWW Link

I'll copy and paste the relevant graph below, depicting the yearly wealth produced by the average citizen of each region:

USA $63,885
Middle East $21,910
Global average $19,834
LatAm & Caribbean $18,908
North Africa $12,967
East Asia $12,591
SE Asia & Pacific $9,419
South Asia $7,998
Sub-Saharan Africa $5,062

Source: ILO Estimates

There are probably a number of reasons why this is true (education, work resources, work conditions, availability and quality of equipment, etc.). Some of these reasons are products of our system of government and our open market policy, others a result of our abundant resources and geographical diversity, and some a product of our multinational backgrounds and generally educated population. I believe this sets us apart from many countries, especially the BRIC bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, and China).

Additionally, the increasing cost of energy may make it less financially viable to import products as opposed to accepting domestic substitutes.

The article also claims the "US figure is boosted by Americans working more hours per year than workers in most developed countries." I don't think that's an unfair skew, since hours in a workweek is a legitimate cultural difference, and not an artificial modifier.

China is almost a certainty. America will remain a super power untill a worse economic crush causes a revolution (tis what me thinks). And India is also becoming more powerfull, although it's comming under the rader due to the press talking mostly about china.

England is too small and unless we reform the British Empire again (he he he) then all we will be is the little guy wispering into the ears of, to be frank, the bully that is america.

I hope we become a bigger part of europe and distance ourselves away from america (I dislike the political choices not the people). But if Tony Blair is to be in charge of the EU surely we are all doomed.

Very true. Necessity is the mother of all inventions.



Sadly, History is written by the Victor. The rules are set by the ones in charge, the ones with the power. And after World War 2, it was "the west" who had the most power. And also after the cold war, it retained much of its power. History say Britain complety defeat the Chinese in that opium war. China was losing much ground to the Japanese during WW2, and the Japanese ended up signing an unconditional surrender (they got owned). And think about it, the US and its allies won a war against two very strong opponents in two differents fronts. The Japanese had the strongest Navy, the Germans had the strongest Army, yet the Allies won a complete victory against the Axis. Thus the west emerged as the undisputed victor, and that also gave them a lot of pride and arrogance, this was reflected in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Have you read where the articles come from like AP wire services in a lot of the newspaper articles?There are what 3 major news services,Time Warner being one of them?
There are words the media will not use like communism to describe a regime.There are stories they won't cover like the 12 lane highway being built from Laredo Mexico to Canada.No matter what you think about it,such a thing would have a major impact on the US.

Think about this,because of corporate power the third world will never experience a free market economy like their was at the inception of the United States.What is needed is small businesses running in a true free market system so that the third world can build up their own economies.But a lot of countries spend so much of their economy simply paying the debt they owe to the world bank instead of on education and such for their own countries.
The United States should focus on strengthening the Western Hemisphere and also giving more political and economic power to the poor in South America.How can you have a democracy when only 3% of the people own 90% of the land like in some South American countries.
Because of the power and desires of corporate America and corporate (fill in the blank) this will never take place,as they wish to consolidate power instead of giving it to others.

unless the us decides not to pay the debt and f them over milatarily. and chine depends on the US for food. 30% of chine fods come from the US so chine willl always be dependent on america

LOL id like to see the EU try and take out the US militarily we kick ass. We spend 4% of our GDP on national defense while the EU spends 1.5% umm i wonder who will win?????
Best troops anywhere is in America. why should i pay for somebody else to have health care. people should plan ahead, and if they dont they die weed out the sick.

Particular governments/nation-states/dynasties may not last more than a few centuries, but history shows that powerful regions of the world remain powerful for long periods of time...

China has been a unified culture for almost 4 millenia. On this time scale, only recently has China lost its edge as the premier center of technology and industry. Europe has also been a premier center of technology and power since the rise of Hellenistic culture...power simply has shifted from Greece to Italy, and from Italy to North-Western Europe. Germany, Italy, the UK (England), and France are the richest and most advanced major European powers and as regions have been so for over a millenia...

The current goverment of the United States may not last forever, but the region of the US will remain powerful for a very, very long time...

Nations like China, Brazil, and India may be catching up in "official" factors like GDP, but their infastructure is nothing compared to that of the west. These nations depend on cheap labor and raw resources, things that can be controlled or replaced by the west...

Arguments that suggest the United States really doesn't do much for the world are ludicruous. There is no doubt that the Brits and the Soviets are the true heroes in fighting Hitler, and the Chinese, Dutch, and Aussies took a lot from the Japanese, but it was unquestionably the American military that brought Japan to its knees. While Europeans (particulary Scandinavians) give more financial aid by percent, the US by far gives more than any nation in actual amounts. Is it enough? No, but millions of people who eat everyday because of us are going to take whatever they can get. The United States has proven in Vietnam and Iraq that it is willing to play World Police. The point isn't whether the US should be in others' business...the point is that the US is the only nation with such extensive military power. Nations like China can field lots of troops, but only America has the navy and air force to police the world. You all may not like America using its guns (and rightly so), but no one else has the ability to play the role of World Police. The US spends between 500-600 billion dollars on its military (depending on what you define as defense spending); if you ranked all the nations on their military expidentures, the US spends more than the next 50 nations combined. While part of that is due to a strong American currency, removing the US from world politics would radically change how things happen in the global arena...and if the US doesn't matter, then no individual nation or region matters, because no one has as much influence as the US...

The only people who think America is a leader in everything are usually American nationalists...however, the America WILL remain extremely powerful (even if it's not the best) for centuries if not millenia to come...no other empire, kingdom, or nation in history has put a man on the moon, a coke and big mac in every city, and taken over multiple nations simply for the sake of giving them back (France, Japan, and Iraq). The industrial, cultural, technological, and military power of the US rival the greatest empires of history...I don't expect you to like America, but the truth is America isn't going anywhere for quite a while, so either deal with it, or go to Canada...

And by the way...

For those of you who think America is worthless and means nothing, shame on you for being ignorant...

But for all of you American nationalists that cling dearly to capitalism and imperialism, may God pity your souls...

If they're going to die then they'd better do it and decrease the surplus population.



Just in case you didn't already know, you already pay for the poor's health-care in America. Its called the "emergency room," and its free if you have no insurance. The cost is passed onto the rest of us in the form of higher insurance premiums and service costs.

Personally, I'd rather people did not have to make decisions like "should I buy groceries or antibiotics for my kid?" That way, they don't cost us $1200 in an emergency room visit because they can't afford to medicate themselves for $120 (doctor visit + antibiotic).

Ooooh.... Oooooh... I know! Let's save the $1200! Lets just let those lazy children go without treatment! That way we can have epidemics in our cities and our schools and the rest of us non-poor (who can plan ahead) now must live in gated-communities so the indolent riff-raff don't breathe on us!

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

NOT.

I did not mean to imply violent revolution as the means of governmental change. As far as the parliament of England it is not the same structure as it was in the past. It has much greater power and the Monarchy has been regulated to mostly ceremonial. Thus a change in Government. Not all revolutions are violent.


Since the Durham Report of 1839, the white-settled colonies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had been virtually independent of Britain. The Statute of Westminster, passed in November, 1931, removed much legal inferiority not addressed in 1839. The independence of the Dominions was now established. The Crown remained as a symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth .
This was a totally new arrangement and thus constituted a new government.

The Imperial Economic Conference met in Ottawa, Canada in July 1932 to hash out the problems of Dominion economic policies and to settle the matter of their exports to Britain

As for the American civil war, the Union survived and was reunited under the still existing govenment that the "rebels" broke away from. There was no change in the structure of The American government as there was with The British government shown above. (1931)<--- A totally new government structure, a complete change in the relationship between the people and the governing authorities. A NEW GOVEVERNMENT, A NEW NATION

Oh and on a side note, we in The United States often make fun of our neighbor to the north Canada, but let us make this very very clear to everyone, we can mess with Canada all we want! but if anyone ever thinks they can bully the Canadians around make damn sure you’re not facing north cause their "family" down south will crush you faster than The Iraqi army surrendered in the first gulf war. No one, not even the Queen, well, ok us and The Queen, can trash talk those fine people of the great white north, but not anyone else.

And you will notice that when the s**t hits the fan we know that Canada will always have our back! Even when we are dead wrong, we can count on Canada to force us into doing what is right in the end! No country on earth has as good a friend on its boarder. We do not have a single solder armed and facing Canada and I doubt we ever will, they are too good of a people for us to worry about them back stabbing us.

Funny note: by definition of some international laws concerning solvarenty, The USA & Canada engage in acts of war on each other about once a week. (U.S. Air Force buzzing Canadian Air Force Base and they doing it to us) These are considered acts of war by law! But Canada can get away with it. They earned the pillage of declaring war on us and telling us to shut up.. This is of course off set by the horrific war crimes of Canada toward the people of the usa, you sent us the Baldwins! You bastar&&&!

Weed out the sick.......uumm people can heal again to become productive members of society.Having an opposable thumb and a bigger brain gives you that power and also that responsibility.It is one thing that seperates us from animals.

For many reasons, the world hates us. But the hate China just as much or more. And though there's always someone whinning about how crappy American life, we sure have it better than a lot of other countrys. And that is why we are so awesome. That and our nukes.  

Nah. Its the video games.

No America won't always be a super power. It will be for some time, but once I perfect my zombie-clone army, the world will be united under the banner of ME.

It will last until my mutant-zombie-clones overrun Las Vegas. After that, it'll all be downhill.

I shall then proceed to put all the world's resources into space flight and exploitation thereof. I intend to be ruling from Mars by the tenth year of my domination. Also, I shall name game designers that have earned my favor as the Nobility of my new Martian domain.

Submit or be eaten by the zombie army. That is all.

(what? I felt the thread needed to be lightened up... it is a game forum, after all!)

all children should be given free health care to an extent. But adults should not be.