Yes I remember a bloke telling me a funny story about all the aircraft the yanks lost, before they joined the shooting war.

It appears the yanks had an airstrip right on the Canadian boarder, & the Canadians had one right across the boarder. Strangely the yanks used to park all these aircraft, mainly bombers on that airfield, right on the boarder.

Next morning they would be unable to find those aircraft, so they would park another bunch there. This went on for months, & those dumb yanks never figured out what was happening to their aircraft.

Bet Hitler noticed.

Steven Meyer,

Well argued. I never believed that the USSR was a threat to America's economic supremacy either, Kruschev's "We will bury you!" speech always seemed like empty boasting, I doubt whether any of his Politburo colleagues really believed that they had a chance.. "Convergence", not collapse, was the experts' prediction for the USSR

I returned to university in the early 90s, to study East Asian economic development. I can also remember the "Japan as No 1" mania, various Japan specialists with mega IQs were also predicting the country's economic supremacy, it seemed daft to me. Trees don't grow to the sky.

Of course there's also Niall Ferguson's "Sudden Imperial Collapse" scenario (because of America's sovereign debt) to consider.

All thing considered, if I had a lazy $100 to bet on which nation would be No 1 in 25 years time--

$80 USA, $19 China and $1 India.

An excellent assessment Steven Meyer.

'I could write much more ...'

I agree, to the energy security and International Relationships you mentioned, you might add water and food security as well as the comparative disparities in wealth distribution, international relationships and migration policies.

The US feeds itself, has water in abundance, has respectful relations with it's immediate neighbours and others and has compartively open borders, while China is a net importer of food, is running short of water, occupies and suppresses it's neighbours, discourages both immigration and emigration and has massive differences in poverty and wealth.

Lily pads and Julia!

Did you know that the drone base to be built upon on our Cocus Islands is described by the U.S. as a lily pad base? No! Better Google the term.

Yeah, apparently the Yanks are building these military bases on soil belonging to unsuspecting Allies who have fallen for the U.S.B.S. The U.S. keeps spreading the message that 'we're here to save the world' but what they're doing is putting lily pad 'Trojan Horses' every which place!

They're building these 'lily pad' bases all over the world so they have stepping off bases that allow them to dominate the world, to take control, to pull all the strings, to manipulate every nation.

Now, you might think this is a huge joke but only if you are a fool. Its implications for the world are dire.

Do you really want a nation that killed nearly all its native Indians to run the world? Do you really want a nation that supports Israel to run the world? Do you really want a nation that is owned by the Corporations and embraces assassination squads, torture, rendition, caging prisoners, all manner of human rights abuses, the killing of millions, endless war, etc, running the world?

Wake up, Australia. The U.S. is a danger to itself and the free world. Its only interest is self-interest and grabbing total power for its own benefit!

I don't want to live in a world run by Yanks. No intelligent person would!

David G

My piece was not about whether the Americans are the good guys or the bad guys. I am not going to enter that debate.

I was simply pointing out why I thought the Americans were unlikely to implode as so many people seem to hope.

Plantagenet

A note of realism. Countries have interests, not friends. The Americans are not our mates. Like all countries they will act in what they perceive to be their best interests.

Right now I think it is in Australia's interests to keep the US involved in the Asia Pacific. So do the Japanese, Vietnamese, Philippines and Indians. We're in good company.

Hasbeen,

Glad you like it.

Don't get me started on the ABC. They should be devoting at least as much time to covering Indonesia, India and China as they do covering the USA. They're hopeless.

Sarnian

FYI. US oil consumption seems to have peaked around 2005.

Tough new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations mean that US vehicle manufacturers will have to double the fuel efficiency of their vehicles by 2025

See: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/fuel-economy/obama-announces-54-6-mpg-cafe-standard-by-2025

Also higher oil prices have made it economical to deploy technologies that exploit "tight oil" deposits.

Not only is the US weaning itself from it's cheap oil addiction, it is developing new sources of oil as it has already developed new sources of natural gas. Even the Guardian's George Monbiot admits he was wrong about peak oil.

See:

We were wrong on peak oil. There's enough to fry us all

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/02/peak-oil-we-we-wrong

mac

Glad you liked the article. I think $80 on the Yanks is reasonable.

Imajulianutter

Yep, there's a lot more I could write about.

But in the end I think it's America's unparalleled network of universities and laboratories that draws the brightest and best to it from all over the world. Unlike China, the USA, and Australia, find it relatively easy to absorb immigrants and renew themselves.

David G and sarnain (again)

As I pointed out, there seem to be a lot of people from China who do not share your pessimism about the USA.

Steven, Obama is a product of American Universities. He made a lot of promises. He kept very few.

Even George W Bush went to an American University and had a Masters Degree. He was clearly the village idiot of world politicians.

Your worship of American Universities is entirely misplaced. That's why the U.S. is all but bankrupt and is run by carpetbaggers, conmen, rabbis and corporations.

Oh, and Donald Duck!