Uh, if anything you're lucky the Russians didn't push west after the fall of Nazi Germany.

America couldn't take over the world after WW2. They were content with the new world order separating west and east.

It is the corporations that you should be concerned about.

America/England have pretty much taken over the world all ready. There are no foreign military bases in the United States, however, the United States has more military bases in more countries (over a 100) than any other world power by far and we have the most domestic prisoners. Also, American corporations such as Mc Donalds, Subway and Starbucks extend our influence even further. Where we land we don't leave. It is a world of corporations that we live in, it is no longer about nation vs nation; that is old primitive thinking. Hundreds of our corporations alone have more money than most of the nations on earth. Friggin walmart by itself is the worlds 25th largest economy, If they wanted to they could hire a private army and win a war. What about J.P. Morgan, Exxon Mobile, Goldman Sachs, Apple, Microsoft, Chevron, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, GE, GM, IBM, Intel, Coca Cola etc... The United States of America or The United Empire of Earth. Even all of the United States printed money comes from a foreign bank (corporation) called the Federal Reserve. It is a corporate world. I love the place I live but I hate the people in charge. p.s. China's elite love us because we make them billions. China being our enemy is nothing but sensationalist headlines of archaic design. The corporate owned American news channels (all of them both republican and democrat) talk all day about China to take away from the fact that it is the corporations who control the shots, not nations. All of our products wouldn't be made in China if we weren't the absolute greatest of business partners. The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. Corporate + Nation = Corporation

No, America could not have taken over the world. Russia alone.....do you have any idea what Operation Unthinkable was? The American casualties were not as high, per capita as some other countries, but they were hurt too. Not the best post I've seen lately, and I'm restraining myself. A lot.

Kojima, serously all Im thinking of is MGS =P
Private Militaries here we come.

If someone thinks any nation would have had the power, willpower, morale and resources to do anything but feel sorrow and start rebuilding after a war like that then that person is completely delusional and has not even an apice of touch with reality, should be in a mental institution as someone with that level of sanity is a potential danger not only for itself but everyone around. To answer both questions in the title: No, up to the time's leaders.

They could have, but they didn't because they weren't fully controlled by the evil yet.

World War II was a very pyrrhic victory for the Allies. If you look at the numbers, you'd actually think Germany was the one that won the war.

America was almost as exhausted of the war as the other countries, though they had the advantage of being unscathed at their home-ground while most of the rest of the world was in ruin. The Russians would have been a problem. A big one for sure, they fight until there's none left. Ask Napoleon (or Hitler though he could have won if he was less stubborn, the world dodged a bullet there).

If the UK and it's Empire sided with them, we'd have World War 3 right after 2, which wouldn't have done the human race any favors. If nuclear warfare continued, it would be bombing after bombing on both sides. The UK knew how to build such a thing but hadn't actually done it, the Russians were close and even Germany itself was just a stone-throw away from developing a bomb. The Nazi's advanced weapon technology and knowledge was up for grabs. Americans already in Europe would also have been surrounded in that case, so that army would be gone.

A lot of things could have happened if any one power would have decided to continue the war or start a new one, but let's just say the world would have been in even deeper sh*t.

The US sort of took over but they tried to make it look like they weren't. Organisations like the World Bank and the UN were designed to do that, while at the same time, the US exported its culture as much as it could around the world. Not as obvious as the British or French Empires but still imperialism to an extent. Much of Europe is America's puppet.

But despite all that influence, you can't compare ww2 a total war to something like Iraq which was more of a distraction than anything. America's recent wars are all limited. American military spending is almost half of all the worlds so they didn't use alot of it. The wars (of attrition) however lasted long enough to plunge your country into trouble, thats why it nuts that Obama won't pull your troops out of Afghanistan like should of happened.

the USA debt is actually almost equally owed to China AND Japan, something people often conveniently forget to mention. only about 10 % of their debt has been borrowed from China and 10% from Japan. the vast majority of the USA debt is actually internal, pulled from the country's own social security system. essentially the USA for the most part is not in debt in the traditional sense. They have in a way axed and damaged internal programs in the future, but do not in fact owe other countries that much

again something likle 80% of the USA debt is internal, borrowed from their own programs

anyone claiming that China or the like could stronghand the USA economy by requesting their money back is delusional because A: it's really not that much (again 10% or so of debt) and B: the Chinese economy relies almost entirely on imports sent to the USA

I think its also important to bear in mind that the USA GDP is large enough that if legislation was passed to dramatically change government programs, the debt could be dealt with very effectively in a 5-10 year plan. of course thats easier said than done, but few countries in the world are capable of fixing their own problems like the USA potentially can

The USA spends something along the lines of as much as the next 10 countries combined on their military

The USA is far more capable in today's world of complete domination, especially with so many strategic bases in virtually every democratic country on the planet. but whats the point of world domination if it means the destruction of the planet as a whole? also what's the point of it if it wouldn't last? because even if it is theoretically possible due to the country's large military (well really large technology advantage rather than numbers), it would be nigh impossible to maintain and would result in huge smoke clouds covering the sky and neverending winters where everyone would die

I do disagree with the OP though- right after WW2 the USA still would not have been big enough or really capable of world domination. Today I could somewhat imagine it though. I think we can all agree that the USA is somewhat imperialistic as it is; they are the only country on the planet that has hundreds or thousands of strategic bases with missles and ships and air force components practically eveywhere geographically