Nations will come and go. When and where though, we do not know.
One thing seems quite evident though. The world is becoming more prosperous and not less so. The driving forces are technology and the pursuit of wealth. For all we know, quality of life will only continue upward.
I will bet that when America's time in the Sun is over it will not be because of mismanagement of economics at home but rather because of population demographics elsewhere. China, India, or some other mega-population country will narrow the gap in GDP per capita because of increasing free-market ideals and technology. That combined with triple the US population will permit them to match the US in total GDP and so eventually build an equivalent military apparatus.
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