The New Dark Age: The collapse of America
The New Dark Age: The collapse of America
The United States has had the superiority in various aspects including political influence, military might, wealth and technological advancements compared to other countries in the world. As such, there is an increasing and alarming degree of authority in the United States on the global front. Therefore, supposing the United States collapsed completely, it is suggestible that the collapse could put the world through a period of darkness like after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
For instance, the United States is the world’s largest manufacturer. In 2012, the United States factories accounted for about 22.75% of the world value of manufacturing (Adams, 2008). The United States is also the largest exporter of services in the world. As such, the country holds a great competitive advantage on the global market with different competitive service industries such as telecommunications, insurance, express delivery, information technology, energy services, banking and audiovisual services. Therefore, the collapse of the United States would lead to the decline in all these services leading to a disruption in the world service and manufacturing industry, hence supporting the statement that the decline of the United States could force the world into a period of darkness.
The United States maintains relative peace with most of the powerful nations in the world. Moreover, many nations depend on the United States for peace and aids. Therefore, if the United States collapsed completely, these nations would have challenging times. One of the significant aids from the United States is the USAID. The USAID is an essential organization established by the United States to assist such nations. Therefore, the collapse of the United States will result to the collapse of such organizations (Figgie & Swanson, 2010). As such, the decline will derail the health systems of these nations because the aids account for more than 3 million lives saved each year through the immunization programs offered by the organizations. Moreover, these nations would develop food challenges because the organizations fund projects that increase the supplies of the agricultural raw materials. There would be a disruption in peace in these nations because organizations like the USAID promote democracy and self-governance in those nations (Jacobsen, 2008).
Other vacuums that would develop from the decline of the United States would be in the economic growth and financial independence and education. The United States through its programs offers start-up support for operating costs and loans to organizations in the world such as the Banco Solidago, which serves approximately 44,000 small businesses in Bolivia (Madrick, 2011). Therefore, with the decline of the United States, there would be a gap in the economic growth and financial independence f nations in terms of the support for the start-up loans and the operating costs.
There would also be a vacuum in the education system of many nations that depend on the United States aids for funding and improving the education systems if the country completely failed (Murray, 2012). The failure of the dollar would also have significant effects on the world economies. The decline of the dollar will lead to a considerable decline in the global economy including the international trade and the financial markets (Putnam, 2000). The global economy will decline because the dollar holds a significant role on the interest rates, bond markets, equity markets and commodities in the world.
The American Navy plays an important role in the shipping industry and the world trade. The international shipping industry carries about ninety percent of the world trade. The shipping industry facilitates the import and export of goods across the countries in the world (Ziff, 2001). The American Navy has an excellent intelligence concerning the factors that derail the growing efficiency of the shipping industry as a mode of transport and an increased liberalization of the economy such as the issues of piracy (Steinbeck, 2007). Therefore, the absence of the American Navy will lead to a considerable disruption of world trade and shipping because of the absence of sufficient intelligence concerning the factors affecting the shipping industry.
The American Military Defense assists many countries to fight terrorism and restore peace in their countries including Afghanistan (Stuart & Moczygemba-McKinsey, 2000). As such, the absence of the American Military Defense will lead to increased terrorist activities in the nations depending on the military defense to restore and maintain peace in their countries. Increased terrorist activities will have immense negative effects on the political, social and economic aspects of the nations (Stuntz, 2011). Some of the key cultures in the world include the capitalist and communist cultures. If the United States collapsed, there would be a considerable decline in the impact of capitalist cultures in the world. As such, the alternative culture would be mainly communism.
Conclusion
The United States exists as a super power in the world because of its superiority across various aspects including the political, social and economic elements. Therefore, the decline of the country would have severe consequences on many nations in the world depending on the US for aids, military support, education support and financial assistance among others. The decline would affect the world economies, especially because of the decline in the dollar.
References
Adams, J. T. (2008). The epic of America. Boston [Mass.: Little, Brown, and Co.
Figgie, H. E., & Swanson, G. J. (2010). Bankruptcy 1995: The coming collapse of America and how to stop it. Boston: Little, Brown.
Jacobsen, R. (2008). Fruitless fall: The collapse of the honey bee and the coming agricultural crisis. New York: Bloomsbury.
Madrick, J. G. (2011). Age of greed: The triumph of finance and the decline of America, 1970 to the present. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Murray, C. A. (2012). Coming apart: The state of white America, 1960-2010. New York, NY: Crown Forum.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Steinbeck, J. (2007). Travels with Charley: In search of America. New York: Viking Press.
Stuart, D. E., & Moczygemba-McKinsey, S. B. (2000). Anasazi America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Stuntz, W. J. (2011). The collapse of American criminal justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Ziff, L. (2001). Literary democracy: The declaration of cultural independence in America. New York: Viking Press.
