[bryanlarsen]

The US got to its preeminent position because the rest of the world screwed things up badly, and the US played a key role in rescuing it. Hopefully we never again see a global conflict on the scale of WW2, so hopefully the US never again is in a position to gain the rewards from rescuing the world.

[red-iron-pine]

the US got it it's preeminent position because it was a resource and manufacturing powerhouse that was unrivaled in the world at the time. it was already overtaking the aging British and French empires when the WW's happened, and both of those wars gutted everything.

it'd be like if WW3 happened now and every other major country got nuked except China.

[bryanlarsen]

Yes, that's a good analogy. China's position as the world's manufacturing powerhouse isn't unassailable at the moment, but it certainly would be if wars devastated its competitors.