Will we go the way of the british empire

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by Rwilliams, Feb 27, 2011.

  1. Rwilliams

    Rwilliams Veteran Member

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    For more than a century the british empire ruled supreme. Ww1 nearly bankrupted the Brits. Ww2 put so much financial stress on the UK that they could no longer hold it's empire together. Today the mighty British navy is only a shell of it's former glory. The UK's army,while very well trained, isn't much larger than the US marine corps. Will the economic stress on the US cause the decay of the armed forces? The uk was the superpower in the past that we are now. They are no longer a superpower. Will history repeat itself and who will take our place? Red may start charging me an education fee.
     
  2. gumborue

    gumborue Throwin Ched

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    they didnt have the resources the us does. we may take a dive, and certainly will relatively, but not to the extent uk did. they were a colonial power and colonies grow up.
     
  3. martin

    martin Banned Forever

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    we are not even slightly like the british empire. this US as a failing empire is a stupid meme. we dont even have any colonies.
     
  4. Rwilliams

    Rwilliams Veteran Member

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    I didn't mean it in the case of an empire. I ment it as in the Brits were the world superpower in military terms and economic pressures caused this to end. All superpowers eventually lose that status. Will our econmic problems being 14trillion in debt cause us to lose our superpower status like the Brits did as did the Russians. I know we are not a colonial power and didn't mean it in that sence at all.
     
  5. mctiger

    mctiger RIP, and thanks for the music Staff Member

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    true, but what we lack in colonies, we certainly make up in foreign aid. Sooner or later, we're going to have to let the rest of the world take care of itself, so we can take care of our own needs.
     
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  6. Rwilliams

    Rwilliams Veteran Member

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    The brits and Russians lost their military because they couldn't pay for it. Ships and subs sit rusting in port because the Russians couldn't afford to maintain them. The Brits couldn't afford to replace their fleet as it aged. I can see that happening to us if the US economy can not sustain the military because of the debt we hold. You can not maintain superpower status if you can't pay for it.
     
  7. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    True. But Britain was a tiny country that depended on exploiting a vast colonial empire to achieve Great Power status. WWII stripped the colonial powers of the last of their overseas possessions and the vast income gained from them.

    The US is more like Rome, who allowed the citizenry of the Roman Republic to gradually lose lose wealth and status while an increasingly small elite ruling class grew rich beyond imagination. Foreigners from the empire's periphery began to dilute the citizenry to the point that it no longer was willing to support the empire and it collapsed under attack from many small enemies that it created, rather than to a rival Great Power.
     
  8. Rwilliams

    Rwilliams Veteran Member

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    In our case it would be more like Russa. They couldn't pay to support their armed forces because their economy couldn't sustain it. Were getting closer to that every day
     
  9. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    You mean the Soviet Union, of course. The Soviets did not fall because their military was underfunded. The Soviet Union fell because of a popular revolution from within.

    The Cold War was an ideological and economic war . . . and we won it. We're a long way from being in the shape the Soviet Union ended up. And they didn't end up with nothing. Don't forget that Russia is still a Great Power and still #2 militarily with the biggest land area in the world and vast natural resources.

    China could be like Napoleonic France. Remarkable rise and great potential, but plateauing well short of Superpower.
     
  10. Rwilliams

    Rwilliams Veteran Member

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    I have read that they're talks about the dollar being replaced as the worlds reserve currency because we are printing money out of thin air. This devalues the dollar. From my limited understanding we are the only country that can get away with this. Russia,china, OPEC countries and the eu are discussing this. If this happens our dollar will lose over half of it's value overnight. How could we remain a superpower if our economy is trashed and inflation runs wild. This is what I fear when I say we are in danger of losing our superpower status. We are printing money to pay for entitlements that we can't afford. The life of our country is in danger due to a fourteen trillion dollar debt that the world is starting to believe we can never repay. How in the hell do you pay back fourteen trillion? And we still come up with trillion dollar entitlement programs that we will never be able to afford. Our ships and planes will be sitting idle because we can't afford to maintain them if we don't do something. Bad thing is none of us know what to do. Once you start an intitlement you can't take it back. We will go the way of Greece economically and we won't be able to afford to be a superpower I fear.
     

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