The End of America

What will lead to the end of America?

  • Fossil fuels run out

    Votes: 3 8.3%

  • Economy collapses

    Votes: 14 38.9%

  • Water shortages and pollution

    Votes: 2 5.6%

  • Drug resistant microbes

    Votes: 1 2.8%

  • Revolt of artificial intelligence

    Votes: 1 2.8%

  • Global climate change

    Votes: 3 8.3%

  • Other

    Votes: 12 33.3%
  • Total voters
    36
invisible said:
America remains extremely wealthy. There is no set expiration date. Things can change quickly, but they can also continue in much the same way for a long, long time.
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Depends on your definition of America, though... if you define it by our transnational CEOs, then sure... if you define it by its middle/working class then we're falling fast and hard; since reagan we've predominantly switched to living off a thickly coated skin of debt, barely maintained by ever increasing labor demands and decreasing benefits, while our wealthy skyrocket in wealth (often by offshoring their wealth, frankly, which certainly makes it a whole lot less 'american.')

America has ~huge~ potential; wasted potential, at the moment, though.
 
DimensionX said:
Or failing that attempt, join them :P
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Join the bankers you mean?

Do you mean that the USA as a whole should join the bankers or do you mean you as an individual should join the bankers?

If you mean the USA...they are already acting like bankers in the sense that they are extracting wealth from other countries. However the bankers are like a leech which is sucking the wealth out of all the countries including the USA. The USA can't join the bankers it is getting exploited by the bankers. The USA is the host and they are the parasite.

Why we are facing 'austerity measures' is because all the public money has been stolen. The money still exists it is just in private hands.

As for you as an individual joining the bankers....I think if you show enough willingness to carry out their wishes they may well employ you. Many people working in banking are still just working class (making a living from their labour). They are still getting used by the capitalist class (those that make a living from their investments).

Do you remember the images on the news of banking workers leaving their offices with boxes full of their stuff after they had been laid off by the banks when the 'banking crisis' kicked off? Even though they work for the bankers they are exploited too

Their employers were doing just fine though and handing out massive bonuses to each other....still are in fact. Where's the regulation? There isn't any because the politicians who are supposed to be watching out for our interests are all corrupt and are riding on the gravy train which is running on the public wealth

If you mean becoming one of the capitalist class i would say that you are doomed to fail. The reason being that with all the deregulation of the markets which the corrupt politicians did for the super rich, the smaller corporations are all being swallowed up by the bigger ones.

Look around you....everything is becoming more homogenised and there are more and more monopolies and less and less competition.

Some of the capitalist class may think they are doing well now, but they will be squeezed as well in time. The super rich will bleed the weakest dry first and once that market is exploited they will move up the socio-economic strata and bleed each layer dry until they are left sitting on all the wealth.....that's capitalism
 
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[MENTION=1871]muir[/MENTION]; i tend to agree... the only evidence against dramatic climate change is rhetorical while all the data says its worse than even Al Gore seemingly over-dramatized. That said, regardless of whether not the USA exists at the time or whether not it falls under an Indochinese Hegemony, our ability to produce food (water, waste, and energy included) will be cut down to almost nothing. Given the state of technology even as it exists today (further advances notwithstanding), the elitists can afford already shed us and hide away while we all starve to death and/or kill each other ever diminishing stockpiles of scraps and fresh water sources.

Anyone trying to 'join' them is likely to get shot.
 
~jet said:
Anyone trying to 'join' them is likely to get shot.
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Lol.....I don't think I am further out then you on the spectrum!

Yeah the super rich are able to live in a bubble of prosperity. They can move anywhere at anytime and can avoid the problems caused by their actions.

If their economic policies leave poverty and rising crime rates in their wake, the rich can just move to a safe area....no problem.

If their corporations ruin the environment in one area...no problem they can just move to a clean area.

If they clog up the transport system because they have priced us out of public transport and instead made us all drive cars in order to fuel their oil corporations and car manufacturers......no problem...they can just fly.

If the education system suffers, no problem they can send their children to the best schools

If they get sick....no problem they can get private health care and skip all the queues

If they pollute the water supply they will buy pure bottled water from the french Alps

If the cheap food contains E numbers, heavy metals and aspartame...no problems they will eat the finest organic food flown in fresh from the areas still unpolluted by their corporations.

If they make a mistake and are caught breaking the law....no problem their lawyers will pay a donation to a cause of the judges choosing and it will all dissapear

etc etc etc

Are they trying to cull the herd as some theories are saying? I wouldn't put anything past these people. We are cattle to them

It can all change though. The herd might end up stampeding!

The rise in 'private security firms' is a concern though...they even have their own private armies now outwith governmental control
 
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It will eventually become like Liberia.
 
Money money money,
Must be funny,
In a rich mans world.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCkOmcIl79s"]YouTube - ABBA - Money Money Money (Abba-dabba-doo)[/ame]
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-P2qL3qkzk"]YouTube - The Flying Lizards - Money[/ame]
 
I will someday discover the secrets to instantly cloning myself, and through hilarious mishaps I will create an entire country of nothing but me. My country's infrastructure will crumble in hours.
 
Being a super power is very expensive. Who needs it? Countries with the highest standards of living (e.g., the nordic countries) are not "world powers." Why can't we just be well educated, healthy, productive, and happy? Okay, we do need to defend ourselves, but $3 Trillion for Iraq and Afghanistan is a bit much. It's hard to believe that, if we were a bit smarter, we couldn't have figured out a more economical way to kill terrorists.
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPvaPT9Uli0"]YouTube - Meja - All about the money (Official) WITH LYRICS On Screen[/ame]
 
The world gets fed up with us, decide to stop taking our shit, and once we're all alone, a new secetionist movement, tears the nation to tiny shreds, and regions join up and create small nation. The end stages will be very similar to the collapse of the Roman Empire and the shaping of europe. Mean while, the EU solidifies into one solid nation, with a central sovereignty, and becomes the New Roman Empire. Then, if the human race lasts long enough, the process kind of cycles, between the USA and USE.
 
I know every generation has its own set of fears of how the world might end, but our list is pretty extensive and insurmountable. I did not include warfare because that could take any number of forms. A nuclear war. A biological war. A cyber war. Also, war is typically a symptom of a greater problem. With the host of environmental and resources concerns that we are facing and the increasing rate of population growth, we may be quite screwed because any of these factors could tip off and lead to a domino affect whereby we end up seeing all of them and the shit really hits the fan. America could be reduced to a third world country in a matter of days.
 
Barnabas said:
if a house collapses but is rebuilt with the same bricks, is it still the same house?
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In Japan they have palaces and castles up to thousands of years old. Throughout history they have been pillaged, partially destroyed or even entirely burned down in acts of war and violence. But they were rebuilt, as they had been. Time itself left it's mark on wood and paper, and part by part the materials are replaced to this day. They consider it to be the same building. I'm not sure why. I don't remember the why. Perhaps they consider a building as the sum of its parts, rather than just the parts.
 
Praefect said:
In Japan they have palaces and castles up to thousands of years old. Throughout history they have been pillaged, partially destroyed or even entirely burned down in acts of war and violence. But they were rebuilt, as they had been. Time itself left it's mark on wood and paper, and part by part the materials are replaced to this day. They consider it to be the same building. I'm not sure why. I don't remember the why. Perhaps they consider a building as the sum of its parts, rather than just the parts.
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Yeah pretty much

If you maintain the original design then you maintain the INTEGRITY (design integrity) of the building. If you maintain the materials of the building then you maintain the AUTHENTICITY (authenticity of materials...these terms embrace a number of things) of the building.

The UNESCO Nara Charter 1994 looked at the issue of 'authenticity' and decided that how it should be interpreted depends on the cultural context of the building/object/monument. For example some cultures don't even have a word for the concept of authenticity.

So in Japan they have wooden structures that have been there for many hundreds of years but piece by piece parts have been replaced because they are periodically dismantled and rebuilt with the damaged parts replaced. However the building maintains its authenticity even though the materials might not be the original materials because that method is authentic to their culture, so it is viewed as the correct treatment for those buildings.
 
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muir said:
Yeah pretty much

If you maintain the original design then you maintain the INTEGRITY (design integrity) of the building. If you maintain the materials of the building then you maintain the AUTHENTICITY (authenticity of materials...these terms embrace a number of things) of the building.

The UNESCO Nara Charter 1994 looked at the issue of 'authenticity' and decided that how it should be interpreted depends on the cultural context of the building/object/monument. For example some cultures don't even have a word for the concept of authenticity.

So in Japan they have wooden structures that have been there for many hundreds of years but piece by piece parts have been replaced because they are periodically dismantled and rebuilt with the damaged parts replaced. However the building maintains its authenticity even though the materials might not be the original materials because that method is authentic to their culture, so it is viewed as the correct treatment for those buildings.
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That's very interesting. Thank you for being informative :)
 
Can the poll be edited?


I feel as though "America
will not end" should be an option.
 
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