"You hit the point. USA has a really reduce range of influence right know, Europe is supporting less and less USA decisions, Russia does not give a dam, USA can't touch in Asia without talking with China, Middle east is a mess and USA can't really do anything right now, South America coutries are almost rogue. The only place where USA as any influence is in Africa. Even that you have to share it with the rest of the world."

which decisions are those? europe is begging for American guidance in the economic recession  we're in. the US has huge influence in Asia. the middle east is a mess, and the country causing the mess in the US, its able to throw an entire region into chaos, pretty significant influence.... South American countries economically depend on the US.

jsut because every country doesnt serve the United States and doesnt do everything we say, doesnt mean we dont have influence. we have influence in every continent in the world...

what kind of messed up definition of superpower are you using? no country in the history of man has had the power you're insisting a superpower must have. the definition of superpower isnt the abillity to manipulate every government worldwide. its the ability to have influence worldwide, which the US does have. the abillity for the US to throw a monkeywrench in the middle east is a sign of their superpower status. the Soviet Union wasnt able to tame Afghanistan, and they were definitely a superpower...

europeans are asking for guidance in the current economic climate.

and lol at using imperialconflict as a source. thats worse then wikipedia, thats worse then Fox!

Also.. as crazy as this sounds i agree with Avo.

The U.S. Economic Crisis turned into a Global Crisis, the U.S. is the only nation that can make the world feel what it feels, negative or positive.

EDIT : The U.S. Current Economic conditions, WHILE BAD are NOT bad enough to cause ANY type of diminishing damage to the U.S.'s Presence as a Super power, the Economy Today is as bad as it was in 1992, Considering the Current Wall Street, and Unemployment rates, no doubt people talked then, as some of you are now - This is an issue - Yes, but nothing that can't be fixed, our status as a Super Power IS FAR from at risk, please educate yourself.

*PS Your teachers are people with rather bias opinions on world affairs, i won't take their words as laws, makes you look to ignorant to do the research and create your own opinions.

> [...]we're happy to sit here and think we're the best while other countries are actually working their asses off (o sacrificing mass population) to get to where they need to be, that is, ahead of us." <

Quoted for universal truth: We have a problem with this attitude in the UK too.

> [...] the definition of superpower isnt the abillity to manipulate every government worldwide. its the ability to have influence worldwide, which the US does have. <

As does the UK, China, Japan, Russia... The point is that by your "messed up" definition half the members of the G20 are global superpowers.

>>the problem is complacency.  we're happy to sit here and think we're the best while other countries are actually working their asses off (or sacrificing mass population) to get to where they need to be, that is, ahead of us.<<

Which is why those of us who work hard are terrified of the damage Obama will do to our great / once great nation and the futures of our children.

"the National Intelligence Council released their new studies about how the world will look in 2025. and they say the US will not be a superpower by them. it will be one, maybe the leading, but amongst others like china and india."

I think you mean not a hyperpower

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5202497.ece

wow,

ok....let me put in my two cents from several posts....

to the comment about giving 25 Billion to GM, Ford, and Chrysler

1) chhysler isnt an American company anymore
2) unlike Wall Street, they are asking for a LOAN -- not a bailout
3) Countries around the world are pumping cash into THEIR auto manufacterers to help them out...so far the US is the only one NOT to that I know about.

Lets compare the auto industry to the airline industry (manufactueres)

1) Airbus gets government funds each year to help it compete against Boeing -- who does not get any cash from the US government (except via contracts)
2) Airbus is funded by not just one governement but gets funds from a few countries

in reply to the superpower question in the middle east....

1) yes, its a mess -- lack of proper planning, or should I say arm chair generaling from the white house rather than letting the military actually plan things.

-- subnote --- Vietnam/Iraq --- both mainly run from whitehouse.... look at the problems
               ---- Desert Storm --- planned by the pentagon

worlds of differnce between military might of a campaign and proper planning of a campaign.

about China's raising of minimum wage

1) China raising the minimum wage --- its about damn time, they have a billion pissed off people that work a 8 hr day for $2.  They see what can be bought/built with proper funding and they want the American dream as well.
2) The US has pulled back jobs from China, but not all that many. The tax breaks done by the current admin and past republican presidents will be running out.
3) With the cost of oill....it became a lot more costly to ship things from out of country to the US rather than paying higher wages here and cutting on shipping costs. The cost of shipping pays a major factor in things. When shipping costs triple in a very short time, you look for alternatives like producing locally.
4) look at china....most of the country still doesnt have reliable energy production. Even with their

Now lets look at the future viability of "super-power" status

As everything is cyclical...things repeat if you fail to learn from history --- or in the case of a lot of world leaders --- ignore history

1) If you look at the US's history --- we've been here before....a few times. Recession because of a lot of growth and then a growing economy expanding a little too fast (or a few financial people screwing up the system for the rest of us)

2) Look at the ability of the different countries and just how far they can improve things in the next 10-20 years if they put in the drive and focus of the government and the people.....for this you need leaders that can look long term and not until their next term and limit growth/rebuilding.

I dont have much time left on my break....so let me just put down a few things on these two topics for the US. Later we can get into Russia, China, India and anyone else

---- Dependance on foriegn oil. Period. This needs to stop. The US needs to get majorly involved in renewable energy. Im talking all aspects. Solar, Wind, Hydro (rivers and damn are pretty much tapped....but we have a lot of ocean currents and tidal we can get tapped into. Also putting micro generators on smaller streams and water ways), and Nuclear. Save the coal for later in life when oil isnt readily available. The US could then convert coal to oil and supply its own needs. Just getting the energy needs for powering all the homes from alternatives to oil would save Billions of dollars a year in oil purchases going over seas.

--- a new system of travel. Setting up a interstate travel ability based on high speed rail. If its all electric...oil isnt being burned. The airlines would be able to drop down to fewer airplanes/flights and save on operation expenses (they should get with joint ventures with other companies or risk dying as a company).

---- They started it with a small % of interstates for each state to get federal funding.....but stop patching instertates and highways and constructing them with cheap asphault and build all major interstates from concrete (as in around 2-3 feet thick so that its only required to grind off the top few millimeters to create a "new" road....easily done at night so traffic isnt impeded). A few states do this more than others....they are saving long term. It costs a lot initially...but when you dont have to repave a highway every 3-4 years...it pays off quickly.

----Creating tax breaks over a 10 year process to get individuals to purchase solar panels for their homes (major advancement in this area in the past 2 years as federal funding died, but capital investors invested huge amounts of cash as oil jumped up) and small wind turbines that can mount to the side of a home and are practically noiseless. This will save homeowners money in the long run and will allow them to use cash for other things --- paying off debt, investing in other areas of home improvements, or investing for future spending....not to mention spending on frivioulous things which turns the economy wheel further.

--- Having the US focus on the US internally for just 2-3 years rather than giving away hundreds of billions to other countries to survive on would greatly improve the US's ability for the future.

Finally for the doomsayers out there.....The last time the US was in a depression...we got "a new deal"... after a few years, look how far the US improved internally and externally in that time frame. Notice how it set the US up to save the Europeans ass twice over a 50 year period. We just need to get a president, cabinet, and legislatures that want to see America thrive and not their own carreers, pocketbooks or those of their cronies and the US will be right back up that pedistal that people like to throw rocks at.

"As does the UK, China, Japan, Russia... The point is that by your "messed up" definition half the members of the G20 are global superpowers."" No they are great powers much like USA.

America's potential military and economic power must be measured against its POLITICAL weakness, growing pacificism and socialist-ecological puritanism that has already limited growth of infrastructure below sustainability

Super Power was first used to describe the US, Soviet Union, and Great Britain in 1944. Does the US now have more influence over the entire world now then it did in 1944? i would definitely say so.

Even Australia has more influence over then world then it did in 1944 . The increase of influence might have changed, but so has the scale of the globalisation.