Russia fell from economic power and it was still considered a superpower. Whether china surpasses it or not america will alway be there for better or worse. Chine owns 1.5 trillion in reserves, most in U.S. dollors. That means China is holding the key to the american dream. Americans have more money and are living better then should as China is bolstering the U.S. economy. As soon as that changes there will be a stock market crash and basicly the U.S. is fucked.

Luckly Canada wont be as bad off! Yeah for Canada!

Cheers Everybody

At the moment, China and the United States have a necessary and symbiotic relationship, regardless of political and ideological disagreements. This may eventually change as production current in China shifts to other Asian nations, including India. What is not often realized is that the services China provides to us can be, in time, replaced.

However, what we provide to China may not be replaced so easily. There is a lot of concern about China's rapid growth, but realistically, it is simply not sustainable, especially with their internationally disagreeable economic tactics.

Yet we can be replaced, easily or not. What happens to our position in the world 20 years from now will depend very greatly on the next five years.

Coincidentally, the obvious answer to this question is, in the long-term: no, of course not. It's foolish to think so.

But for the next 100 years? Possibly.

I don???t see any way the USA is replaced by China as the worlds sole superpower, sure it???s GDP is growing with extreme speed (due primarily to American investments), and it???s population is massive but those two things do not make a superpower, Americas GDP is still the highest in the world (with the possible exception of the EU but that entity is not a country) it???s military is (in conventional warfare) effectively invincible, and despite the constant stream of news about a recession (defined by 6 months of negative GDP growth) the USA???s GDP is still growing (at slower rate than usual however). Not to mention that China has finally been forced to end it???s practice of devaluing it???s currency, has plenty of domestic unrest, and judging by the reaction to it???s hosting of the Olympic games is extremely unpopular in the world. So in short I don???t see China surpassing the US in superpower status, a status which might be irrelevant if the powerful trend of globalization continues to make the world smaller.

Brazil, Russia, India and China, all have a large number of problems that prevent them from reaching their assumed potential, all have a very impoverished population, none have so far lived up to their supposed economic potential, Russia???s population is actually declining and finally predicting the futures of any of these volatile countries is impossible

The thing is, if Brazil, Russia, India or China ceased to exist, the world will feel MUCH greater effects than if the US suddenly disappeared. If the US disappeared, people would rise up a heck of a lot of dust over the internet, but eventually(within 2 months), everything the US gives the world predominantly(mainly movies, music and... well, that's it), would be replaced with products from France and the UK. Whereas the BRIC lands are irreplaceable. Even with their problems taken into account(personal freedoms, coverage, economic stability) they will, by the year 2050(very much likely sooner) completely take over the world economics market.
BradenK, sure, the world will feel the impact of the disappearance of the US. Briefly. But can you imagine the impact of a Chinese block on all exports? That's a mild effect(compared to revolution, wars, ceasing to exist, etc.), and it's scarry stuff!

no all great empire eventually die out and become weak sadly enough it may happen sooner then we think

We may eventually all grow weak in America and not be a super power. But America will never die. If America dies, the entire world goes with us because of our nukes. Plain and simple. Or, there is an asteroid impact that destroys the world, or some other event that would have to devestate our entire planet for America to die off completely.

Wow, what are you smoking? If America dies, the world losses our technological advancement. Are we not, overall, the most high tech country right now?

Can other countries maintain the technological edge we can? Oh yeah, working in a retarded communist nation where I get paid sh*& farmer wages to work as a high tech scientist while getting beat over stupid crap (i dont know because maybe I pissed standing up instead of sitting down?) is real good incentive to devote 20 hours a day to advancing my country.

America won't be a superpower forever and I personally can't wait for that day. It'll be funny to watch all the other countries of the world point at someone else and whine about how it's some superpower's fault that they keep screwing things up.

No, we are not that more advanced than other countries right now as this study shows: The 2007 statistics show China with a technological standing of 82.8, compared to 76.1 for the United States, 66.8 for Germany and 66.0 for Japan. Just 11 years ago, China???s score was only 22.5. The United States peaked in 1999 with a score of 95.4. -http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?id=1682

We are really not that advanced anymore. Did you here about the incedent were China claimed they could "ping" our satellites with lasers? If they did that all of our cell phones, nukes, and gps would be disabled. The US isn't going to fall overnight but we are already on the road to ruin. (And are screwed if Hillary is elected.)

If McCain/Bush get their 100 years in Iraq, no, our superpower status will be slowly but surely sapped by useless wars. Everyone else is making civic research stations and trade structures, but we keep making carriers thinking we will convince other people to love us by a show of force.

Decades of Republican leadership has destroyed the New Deal economic structures that made us the superpower we are. Medicare (Bush turned it into a big pharma subsidy), social security, food stamps, public universities, the GI bill, wide open immigration for scientists (Manhattan Project), financial regulations to prevent market crashes, price controls on food, subsidies to keep food prices down, intervention in the oil markets to keep prices down (Clinton used to pump from the SPR to suppress oil prices), meaningful labor laws, unions, whistle-blower protection, infrastructure development, public ownership of public paid for utilities, and high enough taxes on the rich to subsidize the construction of a greater and more powerful nation. Reagan Bush worked really hard to kill the New Deal and it is coming home to roost. To top it all off, the Reaganites, Bush, and McCain plan on committing our military to pointless wars until that is destroyed as well.

Also a good point, but oil will be needed for quite some time. There are many uses for oil, and even if the US or China creates some new super-fuel, less-developed countries will buy the oil to run our "hand-me-down" cars and generators. Plus oil companies have shot down new fuel sources before and will do it again.