We're going off on tangents here, but the above is a valid point, and I'd like to address it. Proliferation of WMD technology is inevitable. The key ingredients to technological progress are: 1) Time 2) Research We cannot control what research countries engage in. Nor can we stop time. Therefore, any Country so inclined, will pursue WMD technologies, and eventually obtain them. Now, even if we had the money to invade the world, that would create the very conditions we sought to avoid - World War, ya? Last, we don't have the money. Even if we wanted to continue our imperial adventures, the money isn't there. We're Greece in 3 years. So what now?
Well, if "we're Greece" in three years, then most of what you said about our military strength is moot. As for the Swiss point made by another, yes, that's true. I think it's inevitable that the US becomes more like its parents, the socialistic, northern Europeans. Alliances are key. We'll just have to accept being one of the crowd instead of the leader.
Maybe. But if the economy was de-regulated, de-taxed, and the printing press, destroyed, this ship would turn around....Hard. Depression, yes. But after? Take off like a rocket. America is still number#1 in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. No other candidate has the mandate to do that except Paul. That's the main reason I love that guy. He understands how wealth originates and what Government needs to do to make it happen. GTFO of the way with a stable currency = back in business.
There is no such thing as isolationism anymore when we get too much oil from the wrong places - we have massive food exports - and we have GLOBAL ICBM's that can blow up the entire world. Your media fed "isolationist" tag is an arguement from the kindergarten level mindset. Please start thinking for yourself - the realities should be right in front of your face.
If those problems existed, it would not be the case that corporate profits and cash holdings are at all-time highs, and there would be inflation. Edit: we're not No. 1 in innovation anymore. Ironically, it appears the more regulated societies of northern Europe are beating us there, too.
Isn't it possible that the taxpayer funded bailouts and the machinations of the federal reserve have had a tiny bit to do with what you describe? Absent more of our grand children's money, how long do you think this house of cards will remain standing?
The debt needs to clear before we can continue new growth. That's a function of the market and has zero to do with the hyper-regulated/taxed/debt-bombed economy we find ourselves in today. Corporations hold 1.5 Trillion offshore because they don't want to get double-taxed. And, if I were to argue further, many business are withholding expansion because Obamacare adds a big layer of uncertainty to future costs. Many business are closing shop because they can't handle the implied liability. Zee Germans were always great, true. But that ol' chestnut was kicked around here a lot. Nordic countries are the outlier. Norway - oil rich, tiny. Sweden, tiny. Germany, fucking smart. For every Germany, there's 10 examples where Communism/Socialism failed on it's ass. Can we really deny humanities self-serving nature?