The End of USA as a Super Power is approaching

[SteveMak]

Originally Posted by ChewChewTrain

...If the USA didn't spend all that $$$ to employ people in the defense industry what employment would all those people do?

When Henry Ford first started automotive mass-production, many people thought this would be a bad thing. They worried about what would become of all the unemployed buggy manufacturers, wheelwrights, buggy-whip makers, horse-keeps, veterinarians, street sweepers, leather workers, feed farmers, etc.

It wasn't an overnight change. The transition from horses and carriages to automobiles took a few decades, and during that time, people gradually transitioned from one job to another. This is true for most other people.

Another consideration is to not think in terms of "all or nothing" with respect to the military industrial complex. Consider that with only 1/10th of the US's annual military budget reallocated, all Americans would have the best (and free) schooling and health care, bar none.

[LDB]

It is not the job or responsibility of government to provide "free" schooling and health care, neither of which would be free in any event. Beyond legislating minimum requirements such as English fluency the government should not be involved at all really.

[trollbait]

Except education and healthcare are a defense of and investment in a country's economic well being, which has secondary benefits to the society. Toyota has chosen Canada for a factory location over the US because the the available workforce had a higher level of education and they wouldn't have to foot the bill for basic healthcare.

[LDB]

Yes, and we need better education. For one thing it should be required to graduate high school with at least a B average to ever get a driver's license. I bet students would buckle down and study then. We also need to throw out any "educational advances" of the last four decades and go back to teaching phonics and arithmetic like they did a half century ago when our students competed with anyone in the world and led most.

[Draigflag]

Originally Posted by trollbait

Toyota has chosen Canada for a factory location over the US because the the available workforce had a higher level of education and they wouldn't have to foot the bill for basic healthcare.

Possibly the same reasons why some 26 car makers use the UK as the place to build cars too, including:

MINI – MINI, MINI Clubman and MINI Countryman, in Cowley, Oxford
Honda – Civic and CR-V in Swindon
Toyota – Auris, Auris hybrid and Avensis in Burnaston, Derbyshire
Nissan – Juke, Qashqai, Note and Leaf and Infiniti Q30 in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
Lotus – Elise, Evora and Exige in Norfolk
Aston Martin – DB9, Vantage, Rapide, Vanquish, and DB11 in Gaydon, Warwickshire
Bentley Motors – Continental, Flying Spur and Mulsanne in Crewe, Cheshire
Rolls Royce – Ghost and Wraith in Goodwood, West Sussex
Jaguar – F-Pace and XE in Solihull, and F-type, XJ, XF and XE in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham
Land Rover – Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque in Halewood, Merseyside, and Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender in Solihull, West Midlands
Vauxhall – Astra at Ellesmere Port and Vivaro van in Luton

[Jcp385]

I dunno if I completely buy the petrodollar thing, but I'd say our days as a superpower are numbered regardless.

[trollbait]

All things come to an end.

[R.I.D.E.]

The USA never wanted to be a superpower. It was forced on us when Britain gave us the responsibility of building the bomb. At that time Britain was in the second world war, facing starvation without US help. Even the day before Pearl Harbor the US wanted to stay out of the second mass slaughter in barely 20 years, fostered by the stupid megalomania of European powers. Remember, the Czar, Emperor and King were cousins in WW1.

Even just before Pearl Harbor the US military was basically a joke. The strongest part was our Navy, which was hopelessly outclassed by Japanese air power in the crucial time it too us to develop aircraft that could defeat the Japanese 0 fighter.

Only the code breaking operations saved our buts at Midway. While Stalin ground the German army up in eastern Russia.

[trollbait]

The Monroe Doctrine could be pointed too as the start of the USA's journey becoming a super power. It is basically a statement to Europe that the US sees the Americas as its backyard, and it will oppose attempts by Europe to extend its influence there. It was the justification for the US to extends its own influence into the Americas in order to do so.

[SteveMak]

Originally Posted by LDB

It is not the job or responsibility of government to provide "free" schooling and health care, neither of which would be free in any event...

Within the context of my original statement, that a mere 1/10th of the US's military budget could provide the best "free" healthcare and education to all Americans, and in light of your assertion (above), I can only respond that it appears to be the US Government's job to ensure uninterrupted employment and robust profits in the military-industrial complex. Sadly, I believe millions of Americans would agree! The mere suggestion of using taxpayer money on health and education is viewed as being so evil, so un-American, so communistic and socialistic, and so very abhorrent. Meanwhile, spending 10x that amount of money on the military each year feels like the right thing to do for many Americans.

This one example explains, in part, why we are where we are today. To each their own.