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If America isn't the prime mover of the economy and politics, then some other nation will step into the vacuum.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

It's a poorly written article since the point -judging by the title- must be buried somewhere near the end. I don't give much credence to ramblers masquerading as writers.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

although your personal projection of the statement is certainly understandable.

that they will sell oil for currency other than the dollar and it will be over. This is the main reason we kiss Saudi ass- they are the big boys of OPEC.

It's no longer as straight-forward as it used to be. That's a good thing. A world united -even if it's only in terms of money- keeps us all 'honest'.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

... as an prediction of the inevitable. Because nothing of substance is going to change.

Its sad that more people don't recognize the train wreck this world is headed for because we are simply going to be using far less resources than we have today with more people. We are going to add billions of more people in the next 30 years and world cannot provide adequate resources to take care of them.

Resources wars are already taking place although that's not what the headlines read.

that it's just a matter of time before almost every country in the world limits families to just one child. Population growth is the flip side of limited resouces.

But here we are, going the way of the Babylonians, Romans, British, etc.

If one looks back at history all great countries have come to an end. In most cases this is not the end of the country only a move from the ultimate world power to just one of the normal countries in the world. Maybe hard to take but not so terrible either.

occupying countries for resources and staging coups and/or assassinations since the 1890s when we sent gunboats to Hawaii at the behest of ex-pat American planters to overthrow the monarchy who had denied their demands for more land. Operations in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines soon followed ("Overthrow — America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq" by Stephen Kinzer details it all).

My point is we've been doing dirt for corporate profits in the world for a lot longer time than since WWll. Add that to "Manifest Destiny" and all the dirt done on this continent and we've churned up a whole lot of negative energy that is bound to correct itself.

We do have one good thing going though, our demographics are changing which will displace the warmongers and their bought-and-paid-for legislators eventually with more sane foreign policy that leans towards diplomacy rather than troops and bombs (see Obama/Kerry).

It won't happen without a tumultuous upheaval here though as those who've exercised privilege and power since the country's founding won't give up without a fight. And this will all be exacerbated even more by our declining economic clout, stature and respect in the world. The vultures will be circling.

If we thought the 60s was a tumultuous time, look out for the 2020s and 2030s.

and nothing has ever changed that.

We spent our efforts, intellect and money on war and business at the expense of environment, education, science, healthcare, infrastructure and the like.

I thnk Global Warming is going to destabalize the world and America being the Military Power that it is and will continue to be, will move in to help other countries that will be in need. We will be the world's police and will gain control over much of the world.

I hope we're still strong enough to take it all.

I'm not embarrassed to admit that.

the Greatest Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict From 1500 to 2000" by Paul Kennedy. In this book he looks at the reasons that the Empires during this time fell. Each Empire kept expanding their influence in the world until they were overstretched and spending most of their capital on keeping control of the outlying territories they thought they needed to control. In order to afford this Empire these examples began cutting back on spending at home and crumbled from within.

In the last chapter he shows us were the USA is already overstretched and heading for trouble. I have watched this after I read the book and it has only gotten worse, especially in the W years and since as we try to control the ME.