What would cause the US to collapse in future?

Gary Wheeler

When the color of yeast is evenly divisible by the number of the beast.

Software Zen: delete this, and that, and the other thing;

Chris Maunder

Black M&Ms. It's one of the signs of the apocalypse. cheers, Chris Maunder

code frog 0

He also means that foreigners think they can walk in and with the assistance of the ACLU start changing our constitution. They do and are. Pretty soon the white, middle-aged American will be the minority and we will have no rights. It's called a non-hostile take-over and corporate greed will be what makes it all happen. The problem that will take out America is greed. Look at our debt, it's pretty obvious. Watch our currency keep dropping...

If we all used the Plain English compiler every post in the lounge would be a programming question.:cool:
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Zac Howland

code-frog wrote:

The problem that will take out America is greed. Look at our debt, it's pretty obvious. Watch our currency keep dropping...

Greed is a problem, but the US doesn't have a lock on that market, it is a worldwide problem (always has been). The rest of the world actually needs the US to stay in debt. If we ever paid off our debt completely, we would probably let the rest of the world go to hell. Since we owe a few of them money, we have to help out (more than) occassionally. Interestingly enough, it is quite possible to lower taxes and decrease the national debt ... however, it requires that we put some congressmen in office that have brains and realize what their job is and is not. If you decide to become a software engineer, you are signing up to have a 1/2" piece of silicon tell you exactly how stupid you really are for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week Zac

Lost User

Michael P Butler wrote:

Now when the second British Empire is built, he may have cause to worry

Please explain ...

Bob X

Don't understand your joke icon in your post, anyways:

Michael P Butler wrote:

America isn't a conquering empire

Perhaps not now, but -Spanish-American war, Porto Rico (I think that is spelled wrong), Colonizing the Phillipines, Various Protectorates, etc... The US has done it's share of conquering in the past just like other colonial powers.

Anna Jayne Metcalfe

Chris Losinger wrote:

when brewer's yeast rises up and refuses to work for Man any longer.

When that happens, there's always mead.... ;) Anna :rose: Currently working mostly on: Visual Lint :cool: Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.

Gary Kirkham

The usual things...pride and moral decay. Gary Kirkham Forever Forgiven and Alive in the Spirit He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot Me blog, You read

TridentWhite

I never saw a purple cow I never hope to see one But I can tell you anyhow I'd rather see than be one

Happiness is knowing that somewhere out there, there is a bullet with your name on it.

Chris Meech

You know, I'd rather see programming questions in the Lounge than this tripe. Since you believe that no empire lasts forever, then a trigger is unnecessary. It's demise is inevitable. And besides what's 'collapse' mean or infer. The classic example of the British Empire is just that it's sphere of influence has been greatly reduced. Big deal. The quality of life within Great Britain sure hasn't suffered much since the decline. So what the empire collapsed? It sure deosn't mean that people in Great Britain are living back in the dark ages again. Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] The America I believe in has always understood that natural harmony is only one meal away from monkey burgers. [Stan Shannon] GOOD DAY FOR: Bean counters, as the Australian Taxation Office said that prostitutes and strippers could claim tax deductions for adult toys and sexy lingerie. [Associated Press]

Steve Mayfield

but, we all know that the oil companies have small fusion devices hidden away ready to sell to the masses when that happens (no more oil)... :rolleyes: ...of course you need special "cracked water" to run the devices, so you will still need to fill up at the local gas crater station :sigh: and at $3+ a cubic milliliter...they will still be making billions $$$ Steve

Jason Henderson

Empires don't collapse anymore, they all just morph into different empires. Once we figure out we can't pay for all this crap, we'll quit trying to run the show and someone else will step up.

"Live long and prosper." - Spock

Jason Henderson
blog

Allah On Acid

Jason Henderson wrote:

Empires don't collapse anymore,

Then what happened to the Soviet Empire? :doh:

Stan Shannon

VAIO Blue wrote:

but what do you think would be the trigger that causes the collapse of US?

Democrats and other forms of socialism. "You get that which you tolerate"

Jason Henderson

Did barbarians sack Moscow? Did the state completely fall to pieces? Nope. A few new states split off, but there is still a very large and powerful country called Russia.

"Live long and prosper." - Spock

Jason Henderson
blog

DontSailBackwards

Privatisation. Ultimately a government can't control what it doesn't own. Any given country / economy (same thing) will collapse when the corporations that it depends on collapse. Governments lost their power to rule when money evolved from being a commodity to being THE religion. Money is power - ever since brute force became a civil criminal offence - and they have all the money.

Lost User

Marc Clifton wrote:

Everything we're doing right now.

Aw come on! That answer is a cop out! Mark Miller Software Developer

Lost User

The collapse of Rome and the Roman Empire happened over the course of a few hundred years. It was not an overnight thing. I've been reading up on it, and best I can tell at this point, the reason for their collapse is they fell behind the so-called barbarians technologically. They got lazy. I've heard that towards the end, nobody worked for half the year. They had a larger welfare system than they could pay for. And of course they had inept, corrupt leadership. I suppose they had fallen into an overwhelming complacency. "Bread and circuses" pretty much says it all. At the end, violent crime in Rome was rampant, and the government overtaxed and harrassed its own citizens. Romans just up and left Rome to join the so-called barbarian tribes, who they found to be more civilized than they had been told. In short, they didn't want to be Romans anymore. If you want to see what a collapsed, failed society looks like, all you have to do is look at some of the countries around the world that look like wretches now. Some of the countries in the Middle East, for example. The Islamic region of the Middle East used to be known as the most advanced in the world, for a 1,000 years. They had more advanced technology than the West, and they had better schools. Their universities were known as the best in the world. Mathematical principles that we take for granted now were invented there, such as algebra, and the number 0. They had absorbed the knowledge of the Romans and the Greeks, and they expanded on it. I've done a little studying on why the Middle East went into decline. The main cause that I can discern is isolationism. There also seemed to be a belief that they had learned all there was to know. There was no more room for innovation, or challenging old ideas. By the 18th century the West had caught up to the Middle East's technology and sophistication, but they scarcely noticed, because they were convinced (and continue to be) that they had the best of all worlds. They were so pig-headed, they refused to acknowledge that they had something to learn from other cultures different from theirs. By the 19th century the West surpassed them, and they're still wondering why we in the West are sitting pretty and they're down in the gutter. I think a common thread in both collapses is a combination of cultural arrogance/complacency (a belief that one's culture is and always will be the best in the world), and isolationism. A belief that one's people know all there is to know and there's no need to expand one's knowledge, to ch

Stan Shannon

DontSailBackwards wrote:

Any given country / economy (same thing) will collapse when the corporations that it depends on collapse.

:laugh: Then the US has been collapsing for the last 225 years. "You get that which you tolerate"

Marc Clifton

ConsultNewbie wrote:

That answer is a cop out!

No, your reply is. Prove me wrong. Marc Pensieve Some people believe what the bible says. Literally. At least [with Wikipedia] you have the chance to correct the wiki -- Jörgen Sigvardsson