Here’s a better one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143036084/sr=8-1/qid=1148657622/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3291822-7024911?_encoding=UTF8
At risk of taking the thread onto an unintended tangent, I must say that if Amazon’s own review is at all accurate, I’m skeptical.
“Reid tells how European countries were willing to discontinue their individual centuries-old currencies and adopt the Euro, the monetary unit that is now a dominant force in world markets.”
No, the national political and financial elites made that decision; European countries, in the sense of national populaces, had no choice in the matter. As for the euro, its main attraction is simply that it’s not the dollar, and calling it a “dominant force” is laying it on a bit thick, IMHO.
“… Europe in the 21st century, where governments and citizens alike believe that the rewards of banding together are worth a loss in sovereignty.”
One wonders how that belief squares with the rejection by the French and Dutch of the EU “constitution.” While I am aware that domestic politics played some role in the French case, euroskepticism is not unknown in France, the Netherlands or any other EU country.
“To illustrate America’s obliviousness to this trend, Reid tells of former GE CEO Jack Welch, who never bothered to factor European objections into a proposed multi-billion dollar merger with Honeywell, leading to the deal being torpedoed and Welch disgraced.”
So Neutron Jack overreached himself, big deal. It wasn’t the first time the EU has scuppered a potential takeover involving a U.S. company and it won’t be the last; IIRC, this was an unusual decision only in that it was the first time the EU blocked a deal that had already been approved by U.S. regulators. It’s going to take more than one derailed acquisition to convince me that the European Superstate has arrived.
Nothing in that article suggests the U.S. has acted improperly or breached its treaty obligations. It has simply used the available appeal process to the NAFTA dispute settlement panel. And the article states the WTO rulings are nonbinding.
We might be dicks, but we’re not dishonest dicks. At least WRT to trade relations with Canada.
To answer the OP: No. The US has nothing to gain from union with Mexico and Canada. Such resources as they have can simply be purchased from them. I see nothing to be gained by trying to meld their cultures with our own.
Yeah, I’m with you. More to the point, though, is that instead of increasing the size of the U.S., I prefer to break it up. Let’s face it, the cultural/educational/religious/ disconnect between blue and red staters has never been worse. So, I say let’s try this!
Or you could go with this Idea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesusland_map
I think this one is pretty accurate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Newnewmap.jpg
That link is old. The NAFTA appeal process was completed, and the ruling was in Canada’s favour. But the the U.S. administration produced a new WTO ruling in their favour.
Now, as you say, WTO rulings are non-binding while NAFTA rulings are binding. But guess how much of the collected tariffs have been returned?
Story in the Economist, from last September after the NAFTA appeal process was exhausted. The money quote:
“Look, says the United States, the NAFTA and WTO rulings conflict, so let’s just negotiate a compromise. There’s no conflict, snorts Canada, because the WTO’s ruling has no legal force whereas NAFTA, being a treaty between the countries, is legally enforceable. Indeed, it intends to ask the United States’ own Court of International Trade to make its government obey the NAFTA ruling.” (Emphasis added.)
You want to give up the richest state in the Union? You have a deal.
Single-payer health care, eh? 
God save the Queen!
I think that if aliens were to come from the planet Grebnork and look at our worldwide society, they’d wonder why* we confound things by having multiple countries and going against each other. They could say that we’re all the same species and all want to just live…why not hunker down and do things for the Common Good?
*assuming they’re nice and don’t want to subjugate our people and make them into alien-carriers, which is why they’ve been prodding at our rectums for the past many years.
What makes you think Grebnork would be all one country?
You know, that’s exactly what those cute Mormon boys tried to do the other night.
Well, I’m sure Her Majesty wound up quite thoroughly and vigorously saved!
Because it’s assumed that aliens, of greater technology in making exploratory space travel, are more sophisticated and would find diplomacy and unity as answers.
It is, isn’t it?
Obviously, Grebnork has to be assumed to be a united planet (against humankind ahem).
I wish. 
If you say so. You would be wrong of course as corporations don’t “run countries”. You are confusing political influence with actual decision making.
Missed that story about the Mormon boys . . . fill us in?
Good question. But there would have to be a motive to force the issue, and as I see it, most people in this thread have already pointed out the major problem. Any merger would be US-centric, and would be a difficult sell to those having to swallow what we would be jamming down their collective throats.
That’s how I see it now. But things have a way of changing. For example, a while ago (forgive me, I don’t remember the year) Quebec was making noise to become independent. That would have cut Canada in three pieces and would have left three provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland) pretty much seperated from the rest of sovereign Canada.
There is no guarantee that these three would have joined the US, but from a geographic standpoint, it would have made some sense and I’m guessing it would have been discussed.
Any Canadians out there… I haven’t heard too much noise about Quebec seceding in quite a while. Where does that stand? And what was the talk about what would have happened to the three easternmost provinces?
There are four Atlantic provinces. You forgot Prince Edward Island.
Speculation runs rampant. Probably the smartest opinion on the matter was Jean Charest’s (the current non-separatist Quebec premier) whose opinion was that nobody had any idea what would really happen.
At the present time separatism is at a low tide of popularity.
:smack:
My sincerest apologies to the friendly folk that live on Prince Edward Island.
I look forward to you all being the 51st state of America! (and you’d better hurry… our quarter program is ending soon!)
Thanks for the correction, RickJay.