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China is overhyped as a player. As for the EU, socialism and birthrates will do them in. The USA is the last true bastion of democracy, capitalism, and Western individiualism.
I agree with your post. I think there is an American resolve and independent thinking that the rest of the world may not know is there. I'm not even sure we, as Americans, realize that we do think a little differently and have an incredible expectation ourselves. I wish I could pinpoint it with a good definition. It is very deep rooted and somewhat subtle.....but at the end of the day it is probably our most powerful strength as a nation and as individuals.
It would be interesting to see where the US goes in the next few decades, but I have doubts about it surpassing the USA any time soon.
First, you have the obstacle of military influence. The EU doesn't have a well organized or widely available unified military. Even worse, political barriers prevent any speedy action should a problem arise. To be honest, I would be a bit worried if the EU got invaded, as they couldn't do much about it without faster and more through integration. It is hard to get such a diverse set of countries to agree on one ideology, and you will probably have some EU states supporting the opposition.
As mentioned, a lot of Eastern Europe is largely undeveloped. And while the more wealthy EU states have been funneling money into those countries, the results are sparse.
Should the EU finally get their act together, I believe the US, the EU, and China can work together and quite frankly work towards world peace (like that will ever happen). China has no desire to destroy its biggest customer (USA), nor the source of much of their technology and investment (Europe).
The next large scale global conflict may have a China-EU-USA force against powers in the Middle East, perhaps Russia, and the smaller countries such as developing African and South American nation whose interests conflict with the USA/China/EU.
Like I said, we'll just have to wait and see. Europe must first shed the ultra-nationalism that is retained in many of its states before any real progress can be made.
Europe must first shed the ultra-nationalism that is retained in many of its states before any real progress can be made
I see you didn't live in an Eastern European countries under the yoke of Soviet communism (and Nazism before) or you wouldn't speak of "ultranationalism" which is a mere proganda word forged in days of yore by the [in]famous Zbigniew Breezinsky, who exerted a devious influence on Democratic and Republican Presidents alike, trying to prolong the Cold War AFTER the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet Union, not realizing the fight was OVER, and that the populace of Central/Eastern Europe aspired to peace , sovereignty and prosperity but at their own pace. These countries having lived under the yoke of a foreign power were patriotic minded, that's what you call "ultranationalist" and some -like the President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus-like the Irish, the Dutch and the French who voted against the European "Constitutional Treaty" in landmark referenda- are not in a hurry to abdicate large parts of their sovereignty to a supranational European Giant State, and I find it healthy, Europe is not the USA, it's culturally divided and diverse and will remain so in the foreseeable future.
Good news for the US, though!
As mentioned, a lot of Eastern Europe is largely undeveloped. And while the more wealthy EU states have been funneling money into those countries, the results are sparse.
Only true to some extent. It has affected Austria as much that has invested in neighboring countries such as Hungary. The wages in Eastern European cities are lower than say London, but so is it in many parts of Europe. You need to consider disposable incomes and affordability. Having visited and lived in many European countries (western and eastern) I have found that the actual living standard is higher in many Eastern European cities. Slovenia, Czech and Hungary have done quite well. Not to speak of Russia, which is not an EU country though. Poland has improved more recently (many Polish workers have moved back from Norway and England), and the Baltic countries that have changed to the better since their independence have only got worse in the last year or so because of the financial crisis. They depend on Swedish investments.
From what I've seen because their lives were limited under Communism young Eastern Europeans (from the former satellite states) have a mentality more in tune with more capitalist countries than the socialist welfare societies of western Europe like Belgium, Denmark and Sweden. I think many Eastern European countries have a bright future. They do have a long way to go though.
Furthermore, they also do not have the same social problems related to multiculturalism although the Romany issue has not been settled.
EU cannot surpass the US for many reasons. The US is tied so deeply into cheap labor and trade agreements with China, Mexico, and Taiwan that make the US economy too strong for the EU to compare to. Eastern Europe is way too underdeveloped to compete with American commerce and the EU birthrate is either stagnant or declining. The EU has a weak defense system and, in fact, relies on the US for military aide when problems occur. (Flashback to Bosnia-Herz) EU's richest nation is NEUTRAL and full of American money.
The "economic crisis" is America is basically only interest rates, housing foreclosures, and financing. It's not like a major fall more than it is downtime that has been due for a while. You think the $16 billion that was lent to auto companies is a lot??? PLEASE!!! That's a drop in the bucket for American taxpayers.
EU cannot surpass the US for many reasons. The US is tied so deeply into cheap labor and trade agreements with China, Mexico, and Taiwan that make the US economy too strong for the EU to compare to. Eastern Europe is way too underdeveloped to compete with American commerce and the EU birthrate is either stagnant or declining. The EU has a weak defense system and, in fact, relies on the US for military aide when problems occur. (Flashback to Bosnia-Herz) EU's richest nation is NEUTRAL and full of American money.
The "economic crisis" is America is basically only interest rates, housing foreclosures, and financing. It's not like a major fall more than it is downtime that has been due for a while. You think the $16 billion that was lent to auto companies is a lot??? PLEASE!!! That's a drop in the bucket for American taxpayers.
Only because it's exaggerated by the media. $16 billion is nothing compared to the deficit we've already accumulated. I'm not saying that I'm for the loan but it's hardly affective to us.
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