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Arran
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31 May 2013, 2:25 pm

What is the future of the US as a nation in 20, 30, or 50 years time?

Democracy is the bedrock on which the US stands but if the US declines in almost every aspect then does this devalue democracy if most uprising nations do not adopt it?



Jacoby
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31 May 2013, 2:38 pm

Not looking good.



NewDawn
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31 May 2013, 3:15 pm

European view:

The US has important resources the world can't do without. It's in the interest of both the EU and those 'uprising nations' (I pressume you mean India and China) to keep the USA strong. For that very same reason, I'm worried about the level of ignorance in the US. It has come to my attention that US academia has a large percentage of European and Asian students and professors, especially the top "Ivy League" universities. Eventually, they'll take that knowledge back to their own countries, creating a reverse brain drain in the US, and consequently a potential weakening of the economy.

Ignorance is the enemy of democracy. Well educated citizens won't tolerate tyranny, or find a way to undermine it as China is finding out at the moment with thousands of Chinese having been educated in Europe or the USA.

You guys need a national high school curriculum to get all of the science denial crap out of the way.



Last edited by NewDawn on 31 May 2013, 3:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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31 May 2013, 3:21 pm

We have things we need to fix in-house but we're so politically polarized that we'll never agree on what needs fixed let alone how to fix it.


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31 May 2013, 3:35 pm

Jacoby wrote:
Not looking good.


During the bottom of the Great Depression it was looking worse. That was 80 years ago.

ruveyn



zer0netgain
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31 May 2013, 3:41 pm

Arran wrote:
What is the future of the US as a nation in 20, 30, or 50 years time?

Democracy is the bedrock on which the US stands but if the US declines in almost every aspect then does this devalue democracy if most uprising nations do not adopt it?


1. The USA is not a democracy. It is a republic. The reason why we are failing around the world is because we are trying to create democracies when what we should be building are republics.

2. The problem with the US academic system is politics. Teachers are not allowed to teach. It's about preparing kids to pass a standardized test and not preparing them to take on the life challenges they will face. Critical thinking and reasoning skills are hardly taught at all. Putting in time in the seat is more important than actually learning the material. Too many parties with political and social agenda turning houses of education into houses of indoctrination.

If we don't change where we are headed, the USA will just be a protectorate of the next dominant global power.



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31 May 2013, 3:51 pm

Quote:
2. The problem with the US academic system is politics. Teachers are not allowed to teach. It's about preparing kids to pass a standardized test and not preparing them to take on the life challenges they will face. Critical thinking and reasoning skills are hardly taught at all. Putting in time in the seat is more important than actually learning the material. Too many parties with political and social agenda turning houses of education into houses of indoctrination.


That's definitely a big part of the problem right there.


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Arran
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31 May 2013, 4:09 pm

NewDawn wrote:
The US has important resources the world can't do without.


If the US loses most of its manufacturing base and prowess in science and engineering then what exactly does it have that the world can't do without? About 20 years ago the world wanted Intel and Microsoft but now it has an alternative of ARM and Linux. Is there anything significant that the US produces that no other nation produces?

ruveyn wrote:
During the bottom of the Great Depression it was looking worse. That was 80 years ago.


When the US had the luxury of being one of the world's leading industrial and scientific nations who's only real competitors were high wage economies of western Europe. This time round the US is being pushed into the realm of economic and scientific irrelevance.

zer0netgain wrote:
1. The USA is not a democracy. It is a republic.


I already know this but American policians and journalists will not stop spewing the word "democracy" even if the US is reduced to the level of a third world slum.



NewDawn
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31 May 2013, 4:36 pm

Arran wrote:
NewDawn wrote:
The US has important resources the world can't do without.


If the US loses most of its manufacturing base and prowess in science and engineering then what exactly does it have that the world can't do without?


Coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, rare earth elements, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron (essential for steel manufacturing which indeed increasingly goes to China, but China hasn't got much iron and Europe is running out of it), mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber, to name but a few resources.

It may not sound like much, but these resources drive the world's economy. Not every country has those things in abundance as a natural resource. You'll dig in vain for copper, lead, uranium, bauxite (although we have Surinam for that), gold, silver or tungsten, and very little of the rest of it other than natural gas in my country.



redriverronin
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01 Jun 2013, 3:05 pm

Yes and there are lots of other places people can get natural resources and at better price and closer to home. If you think America is immune to this or that we are getting out of a depression just wait its gona get worse much worse. After all the money we owe the federal reserve and personal loans get called in then we will see a real depression not just in America but the whole world.



redriverronin
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01 Jun 2013, 3:06 pm

Yes and there are lots of other places people can get natural resources and at better price and closer to home. If you think America is immune to this or that we are getting out of a depression just wait its gona get worse much worse. After all the money we owe the federal reserve and personal loans get called in then we will see a real depression not just in America but the whole world.



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01 Jun 2013, 3:49 pm

redriverronin wrote:
Yes and there are lots of other places people can get natural resources and at better price and closer to home. If you think America is immune to this or that we are getting out of a depression just wait its gona get worse much worse. After all the money we owe the federal reserve and personal loans get called in then we will see a real depression not just in America but the whole world.


The United States owns the Federal Reserve.......all of the US Treasury debt owned by the Federal Reserve system could be wiped out by the US Congress passing a law, probably with minimal fuss. Right now, we have a much smaller version taking place over time by the Fed paying it's "net income" to the US Treasury.

There are serious fiscal issues with the United States, but debt owned to the Fed is near the bottom of the list. That's more of monetary (inflation) issue.


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01 Jun 2013, 4:04 pm

Arran wrote:
What is the future of the US as a nation in 20, 30, or 50 years time?

Democracy is the bedrock on which the US stands but if the US declines in almost every aspect then does this devalue democracy if most uprising nations do not adopt it?


The U.S. is a Republic, not a Democracy.

If the U.S survived the civil war which killed 2 percent of its population and maimed another 5 percent, then I think it can survive some economic and political difficulties.

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01 Jun 2013, 4:40 pm

We will continue to be a military powerhouse for some time. But as less and less industries support the country, and wages and benefits deteriorate, the standard of living will become less and less, till most Americans are in a third world standard of living. Americans will continue to be divided, and convinced that the "other" is to blame for this decline, they will still be convinced to believe in the now impossible "American dream, while they still rally around the flag over jingoistic military adventurism. A tiny minority of elite wealthy will be more and more disconnected from their fellow Americans, while they collude with their foreign counterparts - who they have more in common with - in accumulating wealth while suppressing the masses. There will be populist, labor, and reform groups that will fight the power, but it will be an uphill battle for them, as they face jail or even physical violence.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer



redriverronin
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01 Jun 2013, 5:56 pm

No its not its a international privately owned bank there is a artical on this website and on many other that has information that backs up my statment. If buy some god like miracle the bought and paid for congress does paws a law to get rid of ower debt then who are we going to borrow money from after the fed refuses to give us anymore money. Lots of other countries are having economic problems like us based on debt owned to central banks and not being able to get the money they need what makes you think the US is any different.



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01 Jun 2013, 6:11 pm

redriverronin wrote:
No its not its a international privately owned bank there is a artical on this website and on many other that has information that backs up my statment. If buy some god like miracle the bought and paid for congress does paws a law to get rid of ower debt then who are we going to borrow money from after the fed refuses to give us anymore money. Lots of other countries are having economic problems like us based on debt owned to central banks and not being able to get the money they need what makes you think the US is any different.


The Federal Reserve Board is an entity created by Congress, subject to oversight by the legislative process, and audited on a regular (at least annual) basis by a major accounting firm and the congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO).

And it appears that you're mixing debt issued by the US Government with debt owned by the Federal Reserve Board/System. The US Treasury sells what amount to promises to pay money later (debt), and the the Federal Reserve is one of many buyers of that debt (they are one of the largest). The largest single owner of US Treasury debt is.....the Social Security trust fund, also effectively run by the US Treasury.


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Our first challenge is to create an entire economic infrastructure, from top to bottom, out of whole cloth.
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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (Firaxis Games)