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Your vision of the USA in 50 years.

Discussion in 'Archive: The Senate Floor' started by Darth Mischievous, Jul 29, 2003.

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  1. Darth Mischievous

    Darth Mischievous Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 12, 1999
    What is your ideal vision of what America will be in terms of socio-political and economic status in a half-century from now?

    What is your conclusion realistically where America will be that concurs or differs from your vision?

    This area of discussion can include both internal and external policies and perceptions.
     
  2. Fire_Ice_Death

    Fire_Ice_Death Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2001
    At this rate, my vision is a bit cloudy, but I can put it in one word: KABOOM!! ;) Clear enough?
     
  3. anakin_girl

    anakin_girl Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 2000
    Socio-political: not sure about political--I'll have to think about that one.

    Socially: the racial balance will change as the population of Hispanics grows larger than the population of Caucasians and African-Americans, for two reasons--more of them immigrate and they have more children as a general rule.

    Because of this, I think the US will have two official languages: English and Spanish. I think Spanish will be a required course in school.

    Economically: hopefully the minimum wage will have increased and there will be more social assistance in the form of getting jobs rather than handing out checks.
     
  4. DarthMoby

    DarthMoby Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2002
    Because of this, I think the US will have two official languages: English and Spanish. I think Spanish will be a required course in school.

    We do not have one official language yet. I doubt within 50 years we will adopt two. If the rest of the country is like my state, Massachusetts, Spanish is unlikely to become an official language. About 70 percent of voters voted to have bilingual education removed from schools last year. The state reps then increased funding of it causing some issues about it here.

     
  5. anakin_girl

    anakin_girl Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 2000
    I know--my mother-in-law teaches ESL in Massachusetts and just had her job cut. [face_plain]

    It's sad what is being done against bilingual education in some places.

    Still I think it is going to be a necessity though. Americans tend to be stuck in their ways and resist change, but it is going happen.
     
  6. Red-Seven

    Red-Seven Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 21, 1999
    I don't think Spanish will rise that much in importance. I do think that demographics are going to play a huge role for our country over the next 50 years. As the baby boomers age, tremendous medical costs are going to accompany that...but that won't be the big problem. The birth rate is rising again, and with immigration could very well put us at wel over 400 million people by then. We'll have enough workers to sort-of afford the medical costs of the baby boomers (unlike europe, where population will continue to shrink), but educational costs for the children will be equally large/burdensome.
     
  7. Vaderbait

    Vaderbait Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2001
    Spanish will only become required or "official" if Hispanics start voting. But then again, if they are moving into another country (America) shouldn't they learn the language? I agree that we should teach thelanguages, but making a foreign language an official language of the country? I dunno about that...

    I don't think much will change, we'll have the same influence we do now, or maybe a little more. Economically we'll be fine, it goes up and down a couple times every decade, so in 50 years it will either be up or down. :p
     
  8. Tourmalante

    Tourmalante Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2003
    What America?
     
  9. Red-Seven

    Red-Seven Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 21, 1999
    Good point.
     
  10. Darth Mischievous

    Darth Mischievous Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 12, 1999
    Thanks for editing that, I noticed it later. :)
     
  11. Jediflyer

    Jediflyer Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2001
    I think it would be more realistic to do 10 or 20 years, not 50. That way, at least some of us have the chance of being right.

    Not to mention living to gloat about it.
     
  12. Darth Mischievous

    Darth Mischievous Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 12, 1999
    I thought 20 years would be too easy, as things wouldn't probably be that much different. However, 50 years is quite some time.
     
  13. Jediflyer

    Jediflyer Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2001
    I would say that guessing into the future is like an exponential curve. The farther out you go, the ability to successfully guess is reduced by a power of 2.

    Or something like that. I was never very good at math.

    Anyway, I would like to see any of you predict back in 1983 that George W. Bush would be president, the Soviet Union would be gone (along with the World Trade Center), China and Cuba as the only two Communist nations left in the world, the INTERNET (and its effects on society), and so on and so forth. It is harder than you think.

     
  14. Jabbadabbado

    Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 1999
    Hispanic ethnic groups will dominate the American cultural landscape in 50 years. It's not speculation, it's absolutely inevitable. Income inequality between the U.S. and Mexico is like a pressure differential that sucks the poor into the United States. This is a force of nature more powerful than any anti-immigration movement or any level of political will to stop it.

    So, combine that with high birth rates among Latino/Hispanic populations, and the ethnic future of the U.S. is more or less written in stone.

    Catholicism will experience a resurgence in the U.S. as a result, despite how badly it's been beaten down by recent events. In 50 years, catholicism will be America's most powerful religious movement.

    In 50 years, the U.S. will have lost its status as the sole military superpower. Waning oil supplies will change geopolitics and economics drastically in the second half of the 21st century. Fighting over more and more expensive oil reserves will become more and more common. The EU will create its own defensive force (if the EU can hold together) to rival the military of the U.S. China will have a military that rivals the U.S., including nuclear warhead numbers and the full range of delivery systems. China will be as heavily invested in space as the United States and Europe.

    Everything will be about the balance of power between the U.S., China and Europe. Japan will be sidelined either as part of China's sphere of influence or as part of America's sphere of influence. Japan eventually will have to lose all its sense of cultural and economic superiority to the Chinese.

    Africa will still be a horrific, poverty-stricken, disease ridden mess of a continent, with little hope for the future.

    Population pressure is one of the classic civilization-killers. And in the second half of the 21st century, the U.S. will feel the effects of population pressure from other parts of the world. The oceans will be more or less devoid of life in 50 years - putting that much more pressure on agriculture to feed the planet.
     
  15. Angel_Padme

    Angel_Padme Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2000
    No matter how hard you try to predict how the world will be in the future, the actual outcome will be more different than anyone can imagine (whether good or bad). For example, think back to old movies that predicted the use of flying cars and such by the year 2000.
     
  16. Saint_of_Killers

    Saint_of_Killers Jedi Youngling star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    Any of you guys ever heard of Shadowrun? Yeah think that, minus the dragons and elves.
     
  17. chibiangi

    chibiangi Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 16, 2002
    I don't think Spanish will rise that much in importance.

    You obviously don't live in California ;D

    If legal and illegal immigration trends stay the same, Spanish speaking households will rise, very quickly, to numbers equaling or near equaling those of English speaking households. This is pretty much the case here in Southern California where 71% of LAUSD students are Hispanic, with a great majority of them speaking Spanish as their first and only language.

    As for Hispanics voting, they already do. Perhaps not so much on a national level, but here in California there are many, many, allegations of voter fraud. In certain parties urge Hispanics to vote (often irregardless of immigration status).
     
  18. Aesop

    Aesop Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2003
    The Economy will continue to grow, and transportation will be REVOLUTIONIZED.

    We will find our selves mixed up as a third party participant in several wars not immediately involving us.

    We will have found a replacement for, or way to produce oil and wind energy will prosper.

    Democrats and Republicans will no longer have a political monopoly and we will have had at least one third party President.

    His/Her name will not be Ralph. More later..
     
  19. 800-pound_ewok

    800-pound_ewok Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Jul 2, 2002
    as a californian, i totally agree with chibiangi's last post.

    cheers!
     
  20. Darth_Asabrush

    Darth_Asabrush Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 21, 2000
    Corporate America will be even more powerful than it already is.

    US national politics will have more than two major political parties.

    The US will have funded some "friendly group" to fight an undesirable despot/government only to be bitten by said fundee at a later date.

    The US will have had at least one huge trade war with a powerful European Union (with the UK still playing both sides).

    The large oil companies et al will still own most patents for environmentally friendly means of transportation or at least still be a major lobbier of the people who fund and govern them.

    Some US states will still insist on adminsitering the death penalty.

    The US would have at least had one black President and one female President.

    Puerto Rico (sp.) would have become the 51st state of the US.

    Sects of the "Christian" religion will still be very strong in US culture/society.

    The right to bear arms will be drastically limited to citizens.

    Hollywood will continue to insist on making films "based on a true event" while ignoring almost all historical fact based on said event.

    California will have been given back to the UK in return for its support of a war the rest of the world is against ;) - The UK and France lose thier seat on the UN Security Council, being replaced with an EU and African permenant representative.

    Football (Soccer) will be the most popular sport in the US (due to its popularity at school level). This will include Sunday league pub sides such as in the UK.

    US companies will supply the UK military with most of its equipment (seen as a necessity due to continued joint operations/command).

    Much to the humour of the Europeans many Americans will still insist on adding a foriegn nationality or continent to their nationaly when describing themselves (i.e. African American, Irish American etc...). This will be the subject of much mirth and merriment in pubs and cafés across the EU.

    The US dollar will be the official currency of several soveriegn nations other than the US and its territories.

    Free trade between the US, Canada and Mexico will be stronger than ever leading to greater co-operation in other areas.





     
  21. scum&villainy

    scum&villainy Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 1999
    "Football (Soccer) will be the most popular sport in the US...This will include Sunday league pub sides such as in the UK."
    ahahaha

    Good one Asabrush, though I can't see the American Sunday leagues being as unskillful and aggressive as the Brit version
     
  22. Darth_Asabrush

    Darth_Asabrush Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 21, 2000
    You mean "skillful and dynamic" S&V surely? Well, I know that's how I see myself playinf on a sunday morning, usually hungover and suffering from too much nicotine! ;)
     
  23. sellars1996

    sellars1996 Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Jun 19, 2002
    Social security will be bankrupt. But then again, it already is. Now there is a Congressional report that recommends raising Social Security taxes but reducing benefits.

    It irks me to no end to see how much is taken from my check each month to pay for this supposed social safety net/retirement plan, yet people my age (33) will only get a fraction back of what we pay in, if that much.

    Anyone who doubts that Hispanics are not the wave of the future should come to Texas. Bilingualism is already here, and in many places in South Texas, English is not the majority language.
     
  24. Jabbadabbado

    Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 1999
    Health care and social security spending will become increasing threats to the economy over the next 30 years. Eventually, some kind of universal health care system will be inevitable, if only to contain costs.

    It would be nice to think that something will come along and replace the internal combustion engine. Even if it doesn't, there will indeed be a transportation revolution when the oil runs out.

    Eventually, there will be a huge resurgence in rail travel and fixed rail municipal public transportation systems. The end of the Car Culture will be the biggest revolution of the century - and it will start happening within the next 50 years.
     
  25. scum&villainy

    scum&villainy Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 8, 1999
    I hear you Asabrush. It was the vomitting at halftime that made me realise Saturday footy was enough for me
     
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