Yah the US dollar is going down right now but give it a decade and it will go back up. The US dollar is very resilient. The US will stay the world's most powerful country at least another 100 years. Poland just doesn't have the resources the USA does and neither does europe.
Yep ive been to... london, brussels, lucerne, zermatt, munich, rotenburg, amsterdam, paris, and austria. If italy and the mediterranian count ive been to alot more! Its true though europe lacks natural resources and it also has an aging population. Much older than the US. Some parts of europe have negative population growth.
Shrinking populations are the way to go for all people on the Earth.
The Earth can't bear much more people (or we should invest much more into space travel to settle other planets). Also in highly industrialised (wealthy) countries more and more machines take over the jobs which earlier humans did. So the need for human menial labor shrinks too.
It's the same like if wealthy families have mostly much fewer kids they cherish and advance and care for more than the mass breeding in poor countries where the children are the only way for the parents got get cared for later.
So a shrinking population is nothing to fear or something negative - an unhealthy balance between the old and young instead is, that must be worked on.
Natural resources are still a cause to go to war over but also that will change. The Earth just hasn't the resources to "feed" so many humans alot longer.
Alternatives are needed and WILL be found, starting with oil and oil products. Oil becoming scarce and rare in the next century already....I'm fairly sure scienists are working hard to get independent.
So...the fate of a future super power will be indepedent from population count and natural resources. The deciding factor will be the human brain and his achievements and maybe the military! No reason why Europe shouldn't be leading...
Honestly, if I was a Polish living here illigaly, I would have left the U.S. to work somewere in Europe too. How can you compete with Mexicans in the illigal job market? You can't. There is so many of them here, even employees and managemant speek some Spanish now. I had to take some Spanish classes too, and learned even more at work. I used to run a couple of restaurants and the dishwashing crew and half the kitchen was always Mexican (or South American). They work for a minimum wage and they're the best workers you could ask for. So if they give you a fake SS#, so what? Whithout them half of the dinning industry would've gone under. And they're genualy good people too.
BTW, when working legally in Europe you get a health insurance, unemployment, retirement etc. Why would anybody consider working and living somewhere else illegally? That makes no sense.
My cousin is coming back from US.. and my aunt & uncle are only staying till they retire.. People are mostly tired with working your ass off, paying all the taxes, but at the same time, not being treated well.. and they have always missed their families and friends.
In the past, they could at least cheat themselves by saying they're just earning much more than they would ever do in Poland. Right now, this is becoming more and more comparable. And if you can work almost anywhere in Europe legally.. I can see loooots of Poles coming back..
Too bad . The US needs the cultural influence to keep the Poles here. The Us needs to encourage poles to stay. They are a great benefit to the society.
Me personally, I would never leave the U.S. to work and live in Poland or anywhere else. First of all my wife and kids don't speak Polish, we would miss our friends and family, we could never (I don't think) get our carriers going somewhere else, I don’t know if my college degree is worth anything over there, it would be such a culture shock for my wife and kids, but also for me. I was born in Poland and I speak Polish, but I've spend most of my live here in the USA; so a move like that would be extremely difficult for me and near imposible for my family.
Another reason I would not want to move out from the States to any other country is the standard of living. I don't think it would be possible for me and my family to achieve an equal lifestyle and wealth if we were living anywhere in Europe, being just a part of the Middle Class.
IMO it is much better to work and live in the Western Europe if you are a single mother, or you do not have an education, or you're sick and requaire a social assistance, or don't speak the language. Most European Countries have much wider and more elaborate social net. But they do pay a price for it, and that is taxes on the Middle Class.
On the other hand if you are an educated professional and a part of the Middle Class in the USA you can afford a lifestyle reserved only for the rich class in Europe.
In a nutshell - subsidise the least efficient farming practices at the expense of the efficient ones, pay farmers vast sums of money for producing crops that nobody wants that can either rot or be given away to the third world and generally screw the free market. Originally it was designed to protect the interests of French peasant (small) farmers but tends to keep all small inefficient farmers very happy nowadays
It's improved some over the early days (You know I like to exagerrate a bit) and the cash is doled out on projects improving the environment etc but many farmers still milk it (groan) for all its worth. Last time I looked the CAP accouinted for about 40% of the total EU budget so megaeuros involved.
These politicians waste money over here on thier special progects like building a 400 Million dollar bridge that nobody uses. I dont think the farmers are that bad off here especially when corn is in such high demand for the ethanol.
