To all Americans

I wish you all a wonderful new Presidency !!!! mirjam

Reply to
mirjam
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Thanks - let's hope it's good for mot just us, but the rest of the world as well - as we are so interlinked.

It's been pretty buzzing in the DC area - we thought about going to the concert yesterday but DH had to skate during what would have interfered with the drive time.

Ellice

Reply to
ellice

Let me add to you Mirjam, the hope that this time there will be peace in your part of the world. I may be just someone whose glass is always half full, but I have a feeling that this time you may be in for some time where there will be no more fighting, rockets, etc. and it might just be that all sides can finally prepare a base for a lasting peace.

Reply to
F.James Cripwell

Excellent thought. We were watching the news from downtown, and after the re-run of the full MLK speech from 1963, there were news announcements that Israel is withdrawing its troops from Gaza. Let's all hope and pray as we prefer for peace and some understanding, resolution there, and all over.

Ellice

Reply to
ellice

Mean spirited response Vic

Reply to
lucretia borgia

Agreed Sheena - I'll support BO as much as I can without compromising my own beliefs.

C
Reply to
Cheryl Isaak

That is a great pity and a great failing that is costing the US a great deal. If there is one really good aspect of Obama it is that he has lived in a foreign country, something like a light bulb in the dark.

America, on the other hand, is

That is debatable now with such a huge deficit.

I guess that's why it's on

It is on everywhere because people are swept up in the glitz of it, which may or may not be, a good thing. Personally I don't watch coronations, I am more interested in what he will DO.

Reply to
lucretia borgia

Is it? Which country would you suggest is more powerful, keeping in mind that the EU is not a country.

Elizabeth

Reply to
epc123

I'd posit China was very powerful in terms of dollars.

Cheryl

Reply to
Cheryl Isaak

Good one, however, somehow blanket blessings rather turn me off.

Reply to
lucretia borgia

I am not speculating who is more powerful but rather suggesting the US is less powerful these days. I think when a country is in such poor financial shape, there is a huge problem. How long can the war in Iraq go on without the bleeding become arterial ?

Reply to
lucretia borgia

But you didn't say that the US was less powerful. You said that it's debatable that it is the most powerful (see Victoria's statement). I think it's a huge problem, too, but we started so far ahead, we've got a long way down to go to be overtaken.

Elizabeth

Reply to
epc123

But not as powerful as the US in terms of dollars: GDP (Purchasing power parity) US - $ 13,780,000,000,000 GDP (Purchasing power parity) China - $ 7,099,000,000,000

If you further control for size of population (GDP per capita) the gap widens significantly: US - $ 45,800; China - $ 5,400

Things get a little more hairy when you look at public debt as a percentage of GDP - for the US it's 60.80% for China it's only 18.40. Canada's public debt is a slightly higher percentage of GDP than the US's by the way. But debt is only really a measure of weakness if one is unable to pay that debt. And even then, it can be a source of power - just ask Mexico. All they have to do is threaten to default on their debt to have the whole world rushing to re-negotiate with them.

In terms of military power, the US spends 4.03 percent of its GDP on the military while China spends 4.30% of a much smaller GDP and actually has more standing obligations (Tibet, the borders with India, Kazakstan, Mongolia). And there's not a country in the world with the projection power of the US (the ability to transport troops). In fact, the EU is not completely capable of projection without relying on US hardware and intelligence.

Elizabeth (all numbers from CIA World Factbook, 2007 estimates)

Reply to
epc123

Elizabeth,

don't you think that China is aiming to be the most powerful, or maybe controlling, power? The USA has pushed our ideal of democracy to many nations, and many have fallen in line. However there are many powers, I understand, that "Democracy" as we know it is weakness. They are ruled by a select few, an oligarchy or whatever. The idea of a democratic country is anathema to them. I have just finished reading two books...one by a Western Muslim Dr who went to Saudi for a year, and the other a novel I am sure you know, about women in Afghanistan.

Our beliefs are totally unacceptable to those in control. It has taken the US 220 years to be where we are today!!!! In Saudi Arabia, I know a woman who is totally controlled by her husband, as are her grown children.

I am not too sure I know where I am going with this....I guess to say we are mostly a respected power, with humanity to those who are without. However our political and basically fundamental beliefs are not those of quite a few countries in the world.

China has no problem in using minimally paid labor to churn out cheap goods. They would NEVER envisage having a democracy such as ours, and may well be the major power in years to come, just because of that. Life is unimportant to them

I remember my dear old Dad ( born 1903) saying to me , when the USA were in the McCarthy era " The communists are not the ones to fear....ultimately China will be the "enemy"". That was 40-50 years ago.

A wise man, My dad...miss him to this day.

Gillian

Reply to
Gillian Murray

Sure, I think they're aiming at it. I just don't think that they're anywhere near achieving it.

I explicitly excluded it because it's not a country, but don't underestimate the power of the European Union both in terms of competition with the US and of ability to help keep China at bay.

Elizabeth

Reply to
epc123

I watched the beautiful ceremony yesterday MAZAL TOV USA mirjam

Reply to
mirjam

That CIA World Factbook, CIA ?

Reply to
lucretia borgia

I see problems arising in the EU, big ones.

Reply to
lucretia borgia

Huh?

Reply to
epc123

Sure, but that doesn't mean it's not powerful, just as problems in the US don't mean we're not powerful. I see problems in both and solutions in both.

Elizabeth

Reply to
epc123

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