Yea,that booming,robust US economy would really be in the chitter,huh?On the military front,we could use them for peaceful purposes like other world militaries and for border patrol,sort of an adapt and overcome attitude.The money we could save by supporting these 3rd world countries that would like to wipe us off the map would be astronomical.........I know its not feasible to hear a speech like that,but one can dream,cant he??

OK, so you want to break peaceful relations with Canada, and Mexico under this scenario.

That will indeed require a border patrol. Perhaps, you could even build a 50 foot wall, and man it with machine guns.

So, now you have cut yourselves off from most of the world. You cannot receive goods through either Canada or Mexico. This means that your ports must handle it all.

Canada has turned off the oil taps and diverted the rivers that flow south into the United States. Mexico has dammed the rivers that carry your waste away.

You will drill for oil in Alaska. How will you get it home? Not by pipeline through Canada. By supertanker? Could be, but you had better not allow any leaks.

Speaking of Alaska, how will those fine citizens of the United States feel about being cut off? They won't be able to drive through Canada to join with their "Fellow Americans".

Now, I can see the White House deciding that they "need" the resources in Canada, so they will plan invasion. Remember all those excess military folk? They could be lined up at the border, and they could crawl over the wall to invade Canada.

Ooops, I forgot, Canadians know how to shoot and hunt too, and think of the target that those soldiers would make as they climbed down the Canadian side of the Wall.

Even the idea of a wall is not new. Remember Berlin? They had one. It fell down after 50 years.

Folks, this speech may really sound great, and it does promote the patriotism of the American People. The feasibility of following through would not be of benefit to most of the world.

Consider, the US has a population of 400,000,000. The UK has a population of 80,000,000. Poland has a population of 38,500,000. Australia has 10,000,000. Spain has 40,000,000. Bulgaria has 7,300,000.

This is a total of 620,000,000 people.

If these were to be the only trading partners of the United States, there would be very little that you could get from them. Australia has sheep and sand. Bulgaria and Spain have grapes. The UK has people. Poland has socialism.

The United States would become their supplier if they were to enter into an exclusive economic pact with them.

I agree with you all that this might make for an interesting world, but I think that the United States would not last long in those circumstances. I think that the people of the United States would change their government rather quickly if that were to come to pass.

The US air force and missile system can handle any Dams or diversions. I believe Canada has no choice but to get right with us. Canada, with less than 30 million people, is the largest U.S. agricultural export market in this hemisphere.The United States is the dominant supplier to Canada, now accounting for around 63 percent or more of the total value of that country’s imports of agricultural products. Canadian exporters ship around half of their farm and food exports to the United States. They won't bite the hand that feeds them and the 30 million people there fight more with each other then us, besides most gave up their guns to the government. Didn't you ever see Charlton Heston's show. Tell me what we need from any other country, that we don't have here or can produce. The gulf is full of oil reserves and if we get down to business at home I believe oil dependency will be eliminated quickly.

Mag44;

This is all hypothetical. Chances of it ever coming to pass are exceedingly slim.

Canada has been "sleeping with the elephant" for many years, and our continued existence does depend upon good economic relations.

As for "giving up our guns", there were a number of people in the Eastern Cities who did. Most of those gun owners in the West did not, and the majority of them still defy the regulations that require registration of guns. That law will soon be revoked, I believe.


Now, you mentioned that the AirForce would be able to over come any walls or dams. Probably so, but they are highly dependent on fuel.

Abrogating NAFTA as described in that speech would turn off the taps. The Strategic reserves would be usable for the short term, but there are two choke points in Western Canada that would stop the flow immediately.

Mexico would not stand by while the United States "Raped" the oil reserves in the Gulf. Guerrilla would become the norm. Another word for Guerrilla warfare is terrorism. Would the American People really wish to invite this type of action?

I would fear more that the United States will become economic under dogs. The United States Government has been borrowing money from many other nations. With the current economic downturn, it will cost more to keep these loans current. Should the Government find itself in a position of default, then the lender will take some action.

On another aspect, with the downturn in the American economy, American companies are becoming bargains. "Foreign" money is investing in these companies, and may obtain a controlling interest. If a substantial number of American companies are controlled by "outsiders", the American economy will be totally lost.

You are right that there are too many dollars borrowed. If I ran my household finances the way that Federal Governments ran their business, the bank would be at my door looking for their money.

First of all, I dont like the isolationist arguement. That was fine 100 years ago, but today is completely unrealistic. However, on this point:

What would they do?

When Donald Trump was completing the Taj in Atlantic City, he was broke, could not make the interest payments on the bonds. However, his banking partners knew that by calling in those loans, they would bankrupt themselves, so they kept lending, hoping it would turn around (which it did in the long run).

I feel that too much of these lenders is tied (currently) with the USA. there recourse would be limited if we stopped paying.