Text 14232, 70 rader
Skriven 2005-10-05 23:57:22 av Raymond Yates (1:3613/48)
  Kommentar till text 14225 av Björn Felten (2:203/2)
Ärende: forever in debt
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 MvdV>>>> The US empire won't last that long.

 PS>>> You expect it to implode before then ?
 PS>>> That may not be such a bad thing.....

 RY>> First, we have to become and Empire, we've not done that....
 RY>> Yet..

 BF>    A country that is accountable for more than 50% of the total
 BF> military expenditure of the world is not an Empire? Are you kidding
 BF> us, of course you are!

No, and that's not the only component required for a classical empire.

By defintion, empires have conquests of the military nature, and the
inhabitants of the conqured lands become vassals of the "winners".

Now yes, we have a huge military, chock full with very expensive equipment.
And yes, we have troops stationed all over the world (the sun never sets) but
there are significant differences.

Most cases (and there are currently exceptions, sad to say) we are where we
are by invitation. We do not have colonies in the traditional sense of the
term, but we do have strong economic ties with countries all over the planet.

We have not behaved like a traditional empire, in that we have not dictated
terms to places we have occupied, as nearly every place we've been we've left
to allow their own sovereign governments to form. This is not to say that we
do not have influence in the world, for we do. With the collapse of the
bipolar superpower system that sort of follows. It also follows that, without
the bipolar system we'll not be liked nor appreciated. This too hardly
surprises.

Another factor is the fragmentation of power. There is an equal amount of
power held in the hands of multinational corporations as there is in our own
government. You may remember the handling of United Fruit in South America, or
Anaconda Copper, and how they behaved as if they were mini-Empires. Yes, that
did us no service in the public relations department, and hostility still
lingers on in some areas.  Were all that power concentrated in the American
Government (which would be a lot cloer to the classic Empire model) then yes,
I would tend to agree.

However, multinationals are not limited to America, nor are they all subject
to our control or going in the same direction we might choose. Thus, with this
lack of cohesion, the idea of Empire does not quite pertain.

There's just too much fragmentation.

For which I am thankful. I would not shoose to see America form a true Empire,
that would do no one any good. And yet, we are capable of it if we forget
where we came from, and why we rejected the models of government that preceded
us.


 BF>    But, as I explained in a previous post, your days are numbered.
 BF> When the economy crashes, it'll be the 1930s all over again. Only this
 BF> time there will be no Lend & Lease Treaty that will give you the
 BF> entire wealth of the British Empire, plus the Russian gold reserve.

Our days may be numbered , that's true, but if/when the economy crashes (as we
know it will) it will be exactly like the 1930's...

Worldwide.

Who comes to the rescue then?

If it were me, I'd not be cheering for the collapse.

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 * Origin: Ray's Rocket Shop - Out to Launch (1:3613/48)