THE USA will abandon all of its 600 military bases immediately! The Benefits of ISOLATIONISM!!!

Originally posted by CodexSinaiticus
Food? Aren't we the "breadbasket" of the planet?

Originally posted by Sherlock Holmes

Originally posted by CodexSinaiticus
Food? Aren't we the "breadbasket" of the planet?

Er.. no.

You've got to face the facts: the USA has had a Chinese takeaway because of its obsession with unregulated, free-market capitalism.

You are pining for a self-sufficient and isolationist US. It's far too late for that.

As the new year begins, the price of wheat is setting an all-time high in the United Kingdom. Food riots are spreading across Algeria. Russia is importing grain to sustain its cattle herds until spring grazing begins. India is wrestling with an 18-percent annual food inflation rate, sparking protests.

China is looking abroad for potentially massive quantities of wheat and corn. The Mexican government is buying corn futures to avoid unmanageable tortilla price rises. And on January 5, the U.N. Food and Agricultural organization announced that its food price index for December hit an all-time high. COMMENTS (19) SHARE: Twitter Reddit Buzz More... But whereas in years past, it's been weather that has caused a spike in commodities prices, now it's trends on both sides of the food supply/demand equation that are driving up prices. On the demand side, the culprits are population growth, rising affluence, and the use of grain to fuel cars. On the supply side: soil erosion, aquifer depletion, the loss of cropland to nonfarm uses, the diversion of irrigation water to cities, the plateauing of crop yields in agriculturally advanced countries, and -- due to climate change -- crop-withering heat waves and melting mountain glaciers and ice sheets. These climate-related trends seem destined to take a far greater toll in the future. There's at least a glimmer of good news on the demand side: World population growth, which peaked at 2 percent per year around 1970, dropped below 1.2 percent per year in 2010. But because the world population has nearly doubled since 1970, we are still adding 80 million people each year. Tonight, there will be 219,000 additional mouths to feed at the dinner table, and many of them will be greeted with empty plates. Another 219,000 will join us tomorrow night. At some point, this relentless growth begins to tax both the skills of farmers and the limits of the earth's land and water resources.

Beyond population growth, there are now some 3 billion people moving up the food chain, eating greater quantities of grain-intensive livestock and poultry products. The rise in meat, milk, and egg consumption in fast-growing developing countries has no precedent. Total meat consumption in China today is already nearly double that in the United States.

The third major source of demand growth is the use of crops to produce fuel for cars. In the United States, which harvested 416 million tons of grain in 2009, 119 million tons went to ethanol distilleries to produce fuel for cars. That's enough to feed 350 million people for a year. The massive U.S. investment in ethanol distilleries sets the stage for direct competition between cars and people for the world grain harvest. In Europe, where much of the auto fleet runs on diesel fuel, there is growing demand for plant-based diesel oil, principally from rapeseed and palm oil. This demand for oil-bearing crops is not only reducing the land available to produce food crops in Europe, it is also driving the clearing of rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia for palm oil plantations.

Originally posted by civilchallenger
Here are some words that describe the USA pulling out of the 600 military bases:
1. Friendly
2. Neighborly
3. Cooperative
4. Polite
5. Receptive
6. Collaborative
7. Harmonious
8. Synergistic
9. Accommodating
10. Hospitable

Here is a word that describes the exact opposite of the act of pulling out of 600 overseas bases: ISOLATIONIST. Pulling out of the 600 bases (actually its more like 1,000 total) is completely collaborative, cooperative, and receptive towards the rest of the world.

Originally posted by CodexSinaiticus

Originally posted by civilchallenger
Here are some words that describe the USA pulling out of the 600 military bases:
1. Friendly
2. Neighborly
3. Cooperative
4. Polite
5. Receptive
6. Collaborative
7. Harmonious
8. Synergistic
9. Accommodating
10. Hospitable

Here is a word that describes the exact opposite of the act of pulling out of 600 overseas bases: ISOLATIONIST. Pulling out of the 600 bases (actually its more like 1,000 total) is completely collaborative, cooperative, and receptive towards the rest of the world.

Ahh, I disagree.

Although, it could be argued that all 11 items are true. And, it's more like 600.

edit on 29-6-2011 by CodexSinaiticus because: (no reason given)

edit on 29-6-2011 by CodexSinaiticus because: (no reason given)

Originally posted by babybunnies
You're dreaming if you think USA can survive as an isolated nation.

Originally posted by civilchallenger

Originally posted by CodexSinaiticus

Originally posted by civilchallenger
Here are some words that describe the USA pulling out of the 600 military bases:
1. Friendly
2. Neighborly
3. Cooperative
4. Polite
5. Receptive
6. Collaborative
7. Harmonious
8. Synergistic
9. Accommodating
10. Hospitable

Here is a word that describes the exact opposite of the act of pulling out of 600 overseas bases: ISOLATIONIST. Pulling out of the 600 bases (actually its more like 1,000 total) is completely collaborative, cooperative, and receptive towards the rest of the world.

Ahh, I disagree.

Although, it could be argued that all 11 items are true. And, it's more like 600.

edit on 29-6-2011 by CodexSinaiticus because: (no reason given)

edit on 29-6-2011 by CodexSinaiticus because: (no reason given)

Does creating enemies increase isolation or decrease isolation? Creating enemies increases isolation. Creating overseas military bases creates enemies. Creating enemies increases isolation. Therefore, abandoning overseas military bases reduces our number of the USA enemies and therefore does the exact opposite of isolationism. Cooperation, collaboration, and receptiveness are the exact opposite of isolationism.

Free trade and easy traveling are good. Overseas bases are bad and they create enemies causing the USA to be increasingly isolated. So, the USA need the opposite of isolationism for the best possible economy.

Look at this at a personal level. If you go around shoving a gun in people's faces left and right are you going to become known as a collaborative neighbor, or as an anti-social isolationist? You'll be known as someone who is burning their bridges and thereby increasing their isolation within the community.

Originally posted by theRhenn

Originally posted by babybunnies
You're dreaming if you think USA can survive as an isolated nation.

China - Which ones?

Saudi Arabia - Sure we can. We just dont drill for it because of the laws set against it. I always thought that we held onto all of the resources to suck everyone else dry before needing to use our own. Believe it or not.. Comming FROM the oilfield and seeing what we have, what we know, and what we simply dont drill... We have plenty. Dont believe the hype!


Canada - Pipelines. The same thing we do across Alaska. Underwater pipelines can work just as well. We dont need to go cross country.

Canada / South Africa - I dont think you fully understand the oilfield my friend. There are diamond bits. If we dont have them, it doesnt mean that we cant drill. Those special coated bits are for drilling specific types of earth... Faster. Without them, the drilling process would be slower, but not as slow as you might imagine. Those bits are also helpful to eat through casing as well, but again... not necissary. I would also like to add.. We can make our own synthetic diamonds. We also have created material that is just as hard and harder than natural diamonds. I would have to dig around for that example, as I just seen a news article on it last week. I think it was a top 20 list of really cool man made stuff. (shrugs)


Sure, we rely on other countries, but I do believe it is in most part, from ripping it out of our own country. We take from other countries because we can get it cheaper than doing it ourselves. If the US had to close it's doors, as Japan did so many, many years ago... We would do just fine. Perhaps we would fall behind just like Japan did in tech, but we could still survive just fine. Need and want are two diffrent things. Much of what we get from other countries are superficial things.. things we dont need.. we just want them because we're that kind of people.. sad isnt it?

Originally posted by babybunnies
You're dreaming if you think USA can survive as an isolated nation.

China - Many rare minerals only produced in China drive USA industry, especially in the high tech sector and exotic military research.

I will give you this point, but we have a lot of rare minnerals here state side that have already been proven to be the next best thing to what the China man has.

Saudi Arabia - The USA cannot possibly survive with it's own domestic oil production. If it could, why does it import more than 70% of the oil it uses?

This is the biggest false flag that has been pimped to the US people when it comes to our domestic oil production. There are litterally 1000's of oil fields sitting capped, in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, PA, TX, LA, New Mexico. There is enough here to supply the world for a long time, but for now, Im content with buring another country's oil.

Canada - Without access across Canada, how will that oil flow from Alaska? You want to bring the whole lot to the lower 48 using tankers? Good Luck.

We wont isolate ourselves from our little brothers to north, just wont happen.

Canada / South Africa - Diamonds. The oil industry depends on them. USA has hardly any of their own diamond production facilities, most diamonds used in the oil industry are from South Africa and Canada. Without them, you can't drill, period.

They use industrial grade diamonds for construction. This technology has been around since the late 80's and the biggest point you are missing is that 98% of all industrial grade diamonds used in the WORLD, are created in a lab....Yes, they actually create diamonds, just like they create pearls, rubys, emeralds and just about all other precious stones that are an exact copy of their natural brethern. So, drill baby drill. diamonds wont be an issue.

These are just a few of the countries that America relies on every single day.

All of the Above - It all comes down to the oil industry. Without enough oil, America cannot survive, at all. Without exotic metals from China, diamonds from South Africa and Canada, pipelines across Canada, and oil imports from Saudi Arabia, the "world's bread basket" would fail to function. Crops would rot in the fields as combines run out of fuel. All other industry would collapse as oil dries up without enough imports. As food supplies collapse, there will be riots in the streets.

Enjoy your isolationism. I give you three months before you have anarchy in the streets.

edit on 29-6-2011 by babybunnies because: (no reason given)

Originally posted by CodexSinaiticus
Perceived weaknesses: people will say that certain goods will be too expensive because US labor costs more, which may appear to be true but it is really not true at all.