There was a time when the United States was considered a great country. The States was viewed around the world as a country of great honour, pride, and the envy of the entire world. In the late 1800's, and into the early 1900's people from all ends of the earth would sell whatever they owned just to come to America. Ships from Europe, and other parts of the world would cross the Atlantic and dock in New York hoping for a chance to grab a piece of the American Dream.
I think things started to change for America at the start of the cold war. Having just defeated Germany, Italy, and Japan, a new enemy rose out of the ashes of World War 2, and that was the Soviet Union. For over 40 years the United States and the Soviet Union were on the brink of war one too many times. The closest they came to an all out war was in October 1963, during the blockade of Cuba. With both the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a state of war for decades, it allowed countries like Germany and Japan to focus on building their industrial might, and it lead to the decline of exports of American products to places around the globe.
As America became a country of consumers, they were relying more and more on oil from the middle east, and became one of the largest importers of oil in the western world. In the 1970's America experienced an oil shortage which resulted in long line-ups at gas stations across the country. Also during this time America experienced their first military defeat by withdrawing from Vietnam, and in the late 1960's and early into the 1970's a mini revolution was taking place across the United States. Riots were breaking out across America, Black people in the south were being harassed on a daily bases, and some will say that America lost it's soul during that dark period in recent American history.
At the start of the 1980's America had a new President, and also a hard hitting recession. This recession hit the United States really hard, but not as hard as a future recession would hit the United States. History will judge President Ronald Regan as a great President who was not only able to get America back on it's feet, but also as the President who brought the cold war to an end without firing a single shot in battle. The Soviet Union became history as they could no longer spend most of their budget towards the military, and like in the early 1900's when the people lead a revolt which resulted in the creation of the Soviet Union. The people lead a different revolt without the bloodshed to see the end of the Soviet Union, and the creation of the Russian Federation.
After serving 2 terms as President, Ronald Regan was succeeded by George H.W. Bush who served as his Vice-President. However George Bush was only a 1 term President as he was faced with a recession during his term as President, and in 1992 he lost to the young William Jefferson Clinton, better known as Bill Clinton. President Clinton did not have an easy first couple of years as President. He was struggling to get the United States out of a hard hitting recession which some would say was greater than the 1980 recession. He failed to pass his health care reform, and he had to deal with a Congress which was controlled by the GOP, who never liked President Clinton. However Clinton was successful in his re-election bid in 1996, and in his second term the United States experienced it's greatest growth in generations. Some would say that the old America was back, and becoming a leader in the world again. However a new storm was brewing, which would prove to be the downfall of the American Empire in the years to come.
In 2000 Vice-President Al Gore lost by 514 votes to George W. Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush. Everyone knows the issues surrounding this election so I won't go into details. On September 11th, 2001 the United States of America was attacked, not by another country, but by a group of terrorists, lead by Osama Bin Laden. This attack started a chain of events that lead to 2 wars, with the Iraq war costing close to a trillion dollars, and thousands of American lives, all this based on false information. The Afghanistan war in my mind was justified as this is where Bin Laden planned his attacks on the Western world. He was allowed to do his planning by the Taliban who controlled the country.
With the United States fighting 2 wars, dealing with a President who allowed Wall Street and the Banking industry to call the shots, something was bound to happen, and it did. The housing market went into a free fall, and houses which used to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars lost 2/3 of their value which resulted in homeowners being "Under Water" with their mortgages. Banks were lending money for loans and mortgages to people with no incomes, and bad or no credit. So when the housing market collapsed, people were getting laid-off as their jobs were going to countries like India, and China, and that's when everything went downhill. Major banks were on the verge of collapse, Wall Street investment companies ran out of money, stocks were in a free fall, and companies like GM went bankrupt, oil was trading at close to $ 140 a barrel. America was losing close to 600,000 jobs a month when the world wide recession hit in 2008. Unlike previous recessions this one was started in the United States and spread around the world like wild fire.
Without a bailout of close to a Trillion dollars America would have entered another great depression which would have made the 1930's depression look like a cake walk. Today America has a deficit into the trillions, and it's national debt which is mainly owned by China is also in the trillions with no end in sight. Both political parties blame one another, yet they are both to blame. So what does the future hold for the United States of America? I don't know. Will the United States return to the once powerful nation it was, when people from all around the world respected the States and wanted to live the American dream? maybe, but I don't think it will happen in the next 5 years, but it willl happen, and I hope I'm around to see it, otherwise America could become a third world nation.
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