The US is still the World's only true military superpower, but China will supplant that sometime in this century. Moreover, the US is no longer and has not been the greatest nation on the planet for some time now. Here are some non-military US-vs-China statistics to prove it, with many you can't deny some of which will lead the US to its ultimate demise.
First of all, whether the US is the greatest country in the world or not is a matter of opinion. You look at things in a pessimistic way and I look at them in a optimistic way. Why you think your opinion is right and mine is wrong is laughable. You know what they say about opinions? Everyone has one. I don’t come out here telling you that you are wrong. You shouldn’t do that to me either. It only makes you look foolish because there are no facts that you can cherry pick that makes the US overall any less great than any other country. I don’t tell you that your opinion is wrong, especially since as far as my opinion is concerned, I’m right and you are wrong. See how foolish that sounds? Stop now before you look even more so. Okay?
The US has always and still remains the greatest country in the world. That is my opinion. Let me tell you why. I believe the US is still the greatest country in the world because of our freedoms and protections we enjoy. No other country in the world has the freedoms and protections we have. Plus we have freedom of movement which to me is one freedom most people take for granted. We are the land of opportunities. Opportunities that are not afforded to the general public in any other country. I am not saying we are not in decline in some areas such as education. There are other areas we are in decline. There is no question. But we are still far above other countries as far as all of the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy.
Economics (According to WorldPopulationView.com)
National Debt: $23.08 Trillion (US - 1st), $1.84 Trillion (China - not in top ten)
Debt to GDP ratio: 105.4% (US - 7th), 15% (China - not in top ten)
Education (Based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment, 2018)
Reading: 505 (US - not in top ten), 555 (China - 1st)
Math: 478 (US - not in top ten), 591 (China - 1st)
Science: 502 (US - not in top ten), 590 (China - 1st)
Not sure where you are getting your figures from but some of them have been misrepresented by you. China’s overall debt is around $5T, not $1.84T as you stated. That number you stated is foreign debt only and is only a portion of their overall debt. Their GDP to debt is running around 40%-50% depending on which year you are looking at. You should not try and deceive here by stating foreign debt of China compared to overall debt of the US. You need to check your numbers before you state them.
Now, if you include loans that China has given, their debt has soared to over $40T!!!!!!!! That is over 300% of their GDP and almost double the debt of the US. And most of those loans were given to countries that the IMF and/or the International bank would not give loans to. Which, by the way is 15% of the total world debt according to Reuters.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-debt-idUSKCN1UD0KDI won’t dispute your other stats as I believe they are correct or close to correct.
In looking at the disparity of economics and education alone in both nations, it is clear which country is on the rise and which is not. Moreover, it is easier to understand why the US can't be considered the greatest nation in the World and why some believe China has the potential to replace the US in that regard in its future as well.
As I and others here have stated it takes more than a couple of cherry picked stats to make a country great or not so great. I have already stated my opinions. Having such a narrow outlook on your country’s wellbeing and their greatness is your prerogative. In the same vain, it is my prerogative to look at all aspects of our country and know that we are still the greatest country overall in the world.
China might overtake the US in world economy, though their economy is so bad right now they have to manually manipulate it in order to try and maintain growth which eventually will catch up to them. They may not ever reach that point. They could collapse if their loans default on them. And they could collapse because they are manually manipulating their currency value. If they continue it will not end well for them.
As for the military, the US has the best military in the World, but despite its dominance, can't maintain a nation's greatness alone. Rome did not fall because its military establishment failed them per se. It was their military overstretch coupled with its imperial debt that had a lot to do with that.
I agree with you on this. But I will add to this what I wrote in a previous post to Flapp, it is our military greatness and economic greatness that allows us to maintain our freedoms and opportunities. Without these, we will not be able to maintain our freedoms and opportunities and we will fall from the top spot.
Merry Christmas!