Is America as we know it REALLY on the verge of collapse?

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   djoutsider711posted 13 years ago

   Is America as we know it REALLY on the verge of collapse?
   
   I am no economist or politician (hate politics) so, lets keep this fairly layman and please provide good links. :-D I am seeking to know more about what people are feeling, not so much what some accountant says.

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   Paul Kuehnposted 13 years ago

   What do you mean when you say on the verge of collapse?  Do you mean collapse militarily, economically, socially, morally?  I would say that America reached its zenith during my youth in the 1960s and has been declining slowly ever since. If I had to give a quick answer to your question now, I would say, "no".  If it is on the verge of collapse, get ready to learn Chinese and love RMB.

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   PETER LUMETTAposted 13 years ago

   I believe America as we knew it collapsed 3-4 years ago. The economy, the political rhetoric, the attitude of the people, the actual laws being passed all have been totally out of character from the past. I believe we are actually regressing. The rights of women, the way our elected officials deisregard the plight of the citizens for the appeasement of the big corporations and campaign donors. The lowest taxes for the rich in over 60 years! And yet they continue to say there is no money for the unemployed, the poor, the elderly and all the other folks we used to help in their time of need. So we have collapsed into a third world country, the lowest academic scores in the modern world, the highest debt, the leader of what? not the democracies of the world and certainly not the peace maker that we should be. America as we remember it is gone.
   
   Peter

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4. 68

   ShootersCenterposted 13 years ago

   Our country has been controlled by big business for many years, oil companies, insurance and pharmaceuticals. They control what vehicles are produced by auto companies, what medicines are available, what items will cost, etc.The economy has really been on decline since the NAFDA agreement that pushed our manufacturing to other countries starting back in Clinton's second year in office.
   My construction business has steadily declined from 21 employees to 2 over the last 15 yrs. I started cutting back in 2001, when i realized the turn in the economy was going to be permanent, if I hadn't began the down size early I would have already been out of business like most of my competitors.

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   djoutsider711posted 13 years ago

   Paul, since I didn't specify the type of collapse all things you mentioned are covered. If any one of those things crumbles then the rest follow. Even with just 3 answers thus far a pattern is starting to emerge. Hopefully I get more feedback. :-D Thank you all.

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   Rock_njposted 13 years ago

   If the United States' debt situation leads to a default (and it may eventually even if we get through this current debt ceiling stalemate), then the United States as we once knew it will be done.  The reason why is because we will no longer play the role as world economic leader with the world's reserve currency.  Our reserve currency status allows us to throw our weight around economically, and that will no longer be possible.  The U.S. Dollar will collapse.  We will be forced by the markets to drastically reduce our federal spending and/or raise taxes, just as Greece recently did.  At this point, we will really see a cut in our standard of living, as things that we buy in Dollars get much more expensive, federal spending on everything will dive (not as desirable as some may think, it means a lot of jobs and services we take for granted disappear), and taxes will go up significantly.  The one positive would be that with a weaker Dollar and a federal government reigned in, manufacturing might take off again in the U.S.
   
   I think the collapse of America as we know it can be found in the history books (i.e., the collapse of empires like the Roman Empire).  The United States is now a world empire, like any empire over the ages.  We spend 10 times more on our military than the second highest military spender.  We have troops and bases in countries all around the world.  We are engaged in wars of dubious nature that are draining our coffers and changing the character of our democracy.  Like any empire or business collapse in history, the U.S. is just expanding beyond what it can afford to support.  If we can't borrow to finance our empire, then the empire will collapse.  We may be nearing that point.

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   Bretsukiposted 13 years ago

   Hello, this is a great question. Actually so great it has been asked since the days of Ancient Greece, and probably before , while exchanging America fir the desired state or nation, or city.
   
   I do not think the US is on the verge of collapse, people throughout history have looked at their current situation with gloom and looked back to "Golden Ages" always 30 or 40 years before.
   
   I am not American by birth, being born and living most of my life in England I came here five years ago. Even then in 2006 at the end of the boom, people were finding problems as to why the US was failing, it very much echoed what I had left in Britain, taxes, government, not being left with cash at the end of a month. For me taxes were lower, and things were greener on this side of the fence.
   
   I would say no there is no imminent collapse, the US is just suffering from the human condition of saying, "Things were better when ..."

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   Wakeupamericanowposted 13 years ago

   I know that we owe the most debt of all the worlds history. And there are signs that show that we are very close to a collapse . For example precious metal have sky rocketed and that is one of the biggest signs. Gold hit 1900 dollars and silver hit 49 dollar an oz. the only time that metals like these have ever hit this high before was  during  the great depression.

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