"America won't be the top consumer economy" - this is not a race worth trying to win. It's better to figure out 'quality' over 'quantity' now, and get with the 21st century.
Earnestly, why not?
Edit with my concerns:
America is still a bastion of personal liberty. I'd shudder to think of a world where something else throws around all the weight.
We're already censoring American entertainment to appease the juggernauts in the search of profit. I don't think the coming world will be comfortable.
Edit: America is only a bastion of personal liberty if you look and act a certain way. Is personal liberty such an important thing anyway? It seems to be creating huge problems for us at the moment. I am not an advocate for an entirely collectivist society, but I think a small dose of collectivism would help us all. People refuse to acknowledge the benefits they get from our society without wanting to play their part by paying taxes.
But would they be able to do that if they couldn't rely on US protection via NATO? If the US suddenly disappeared, would Europe be ripe for invasion by, say, Russia?
Russia trying to march into France or Germany, for instance, wouldn’t be a fun thing for anyone, including Russia.
But why do you believe Russia would risk nuclear war just for Europe, what would they gain?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_...
Baltic states yes. Moscow views them as lost provinces with nontrivial Russian minorities, blocking land access to Kaliningrad.
But 'military spending' is a pretty small part of the 'difference between wealth creation' factors on either side of the Atlantic.
Because it’s going to suck when the oil runs out.
even if you take claimed reserves with a healthy dose of skepticism -- which you should, because oil-producing nations treat those reserves as assets that they can borrow against -- if we burn all of that oil we'll be at something like 5C+ of warming.
for reference, when the planet was 4C cooler than the modern era, during the last ice age, the place you sit now was likely under 1km of ice.
Because trying to win "who consume the most" race specifically requires making dumb decisions. Which is why it is not good thing to win.
It completely escapes me what "quantity vs quality" and trying to be the most consumerist country has to do with personal liberty or entertainment censorship. Whether we are talking about past liberty + censorship issues strategies and gatekeepers or about contemporary ones.
Also, I have a bit trouble to square "bastion of personal liberty" with highest incarceration levels in the world.
Time for a different strategy.
Notably one of working with EU/UK/Canada/Mexico/Brazil/SKorea/Japan etc. towards stabilizing things, making sure China+Russia don't get out of hand, dealing with climate change, and hopefully not having to suffer a reduction in quality of life.