The USA is the largest consumer market in the world. There is no other country in the world that comes even close. The US buys about as much foreign products as the entire European market (and sometimes even more). Any country that chooses not to trade with the US and considers themselves part of the global economy, are kidding themselves and losing out on millions and billions of dollars. Canada would be hurt by stopping trade with the US than the US itself. As for oil the US can rely on Alaska, Texas and offshore drilling throughout the entire coast. Furthermore, the US has a good thing going with Colombia which is VERY rich on natural resources (definitely moreso than Canada thanks to various temperatures and the Amazon jungle) despite it being just twice the size of Texas (barely). I understand you wanna sneak a little nationalism and perhaps a bit of ethnocentrism in there but no, Canada is just another of many allies.
As for the US.....corporations have absolutely ruined it. They think with a short term mentality and are over-reliant on outsourcing but fail to see the bigger picture. The US as a big player in the consumer market, by limiting jobs further and further, and giving them to the chinamen and southeast asians, they are decreasing the number of potential consumers greatly. If more US Americans are to have greater disposable income, they tend to also spend more money on the products said corporations sell. Corporate greed blinds them to the longer term profits which can be made. Bringing back all those industrial and IT jobs to the USA would lead to many more people being paid fairly, but also these people are the ones who will most likely apply to have several credit cards, take out loans for a house, do the no interest no payments programs for various electronic products and circulate the money back into the economy. Personally I say we should bring back the tariff system on international products, ESPECIALLY those products US corporations bring from their sweatshops overseas. In this situation they will have no choice but to bring jobs back, or have considerably less profit margins (although the former scenario is more likely). Cigarettes in NYC are about $12! Yet people still buy a pack, which should show the resilience of the US consumer. Anyways this got derailed severely by me so I apologize.
Make games, not war (that goes for ridiculous fanboys)
I may be the next Maelstorm or not, you be the judge http://videogamesgrow.blogspot.com/ hopefully I can be more of an asset than a fanboy to VGC hehe.
