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DJilla, first off wrt "I will willingly keep my mouth shut and go back to lurking": Don't do that, you have a right to your opinion. Even if I disagree with you, even if I think you are wrong, even if I am certain you are wrong; I'll still argue your right to have that opinion, and more importantly, your right to say and post those things (however I'll also argue for the same right to those who say and post the opposite).
WRT "France, Germany, et al, are they still countries? Aren't they called the EU now?": Yes they are all countries, with their own laws, the EU is just a sort of "grouping together" for financial reasons. For example, way back when it was started America was still the major financial power in the world, and if Germany or France objected to US tariffs or if Germany or France tried to put tariffs on America, America could simply say "Fuck You". But when all the European countries banded together they had enough clout to argue on equal terms with the US. And of course today, with America in the state it is in, the EU is now a lot more powerful than the US.
WRT:"A combined financial instrument called the Euro that has/had its promise but could fall into collapse at any moment (trust me its true) as a result of politics" The Euro is just a unit of money. The "Euro" owes no allegiance to any country, if it collapses it has no effect on anything whatsoever.
WRT: "Actually they imploded and ceased to exist as a nation! How funny was that?": Not at all funny when you realise that the US is in the first stages of doing exactly the same thing!
WRT: "Screw the rest of the world, we're the ones with the aircraft carriers": See my last point (and the point you were making that I was commenting on in my last point).
WRT: "Really? I can't tell! Looks like we're doing whatever the frick we want to to me!": I think you answer that point yourself when you say "If we ever slapped them with tariffs forcing open their markets they would choke", because you have not, because you cannot, because you owe them and you dare not.
Just one example: America is flooded with cheap imports from Asia at the moment. American companies are going broke because they cannot compete, and American citizens are living on state benefit because there are not enough jobs to go around, and you (the tax payer) are paying for this. In the EU, before a similar situation occurred, we slapped limits on the quantity of cheap Asian good that could come into Europe. You may have seen on the news recently that when China tried sending more goods than allowed to Britain they were stopped at customs and not allowed into the country (to be fair on China, I think the fault was with the British importers trying to sneak more than allowed into the country, but the result was the same). In the end China had to agree to send even less over in future to compensate for this. But in America you cannot do this, your government dares not do this, they cannot afford to risk upsetting their bankers.
And the frightening fact is that this is an ever declining loop. The more you import, the worse your economy gets, so the more you have to rely on outside loans, so the harder it is for Washington to impose tariffs or limitations, so you have to import even more, your economy gets even worse, your government requires even larger loans, they impose even less tariffs, etc.........
I am afraid you have to face it, if you are an American Asia owns your ass.
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