oakbar said:
Well, since I considered part of the "lunatic fringe" as posted on another thread, I guess my opinion isn't worth much to anyone but me. But here it is anyway, I don't think it will take 30-40 years for this thing to play out--its happening right now. We are already sending much of the interest we pay on our loans and our national debt directly to other countries--they own our debt and have interest in most of our banks. In addition, they use their currency(which is worth much more versus the dollar than it was just a short time ago) to buy up our real estate and businesses. They become more and more influential in our country with each move. They don't have to physically take over our country to accrue the assets and most of the profit of American industry---we'll pay it to them in interest on our national debt(taxes), through dividends on the stock they own in our companies, or as rent on the real estate they own here. The current recession is an absolute dream for those countries with excess cash(most of who are not friendly to us). They are buying up stocks in American companies at record low prices and the only thing they need to be careful of is that they don't buy too much, too quickly or they'll send a signal that would turn the stock market around. Meanwhile we borrow more of their money to put them even further in control. That's how world order changes most often--in small increments--not in world wars.
oakbar, i agree with what you just said, except the conclusion. war throughout history have been the most accurate revaluation of currency. it's usually not the war itself, but how other issues play out. take the spanish armada for instance. the battle was a draw, with i think only one spanish ship being sunk during the battle itself, but since the british fleet was in the west, the spanish armada had to sail east, then north around the british isles, and they lost i think 60% of their fleet due to weather. they lost a good portion of their crews as well to disease, lack of food etc.
wars create a consolidation of resources, ie, human population and disrupt supply, production, health lines. it's really amazing how little actual loss of human life occurs during actual battle. similar to a football game where there's only 5 minutes of actual action.
war is simply economics. many astute leaders have observed this over and over.
here's a really good book on the subject. excerpts below on google books. the section on the spanish armada are not in the link. buy or check out the book at your local library. it's a fast read. it also explains how nelson defeated the french with an essentially suicidal move. he stood on the quarterdeck and was shot by a musket shot from a french rifleman looking for fancy uniforms. his martyrdom essentially overwhelmed his personal shortcomings.
http://books.google.com/books?id=EgH1u2sJt4oC&dq=Arthur+Herman&printsec=frontcover&source=an&hl=en&ei=WyOoSaCAAYKOsQPR_PDYDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA68,M1
