What do you mean by collapses?

The government folding or being destroyed for whatever reason: Civil war, invasion, bombed, economic collapse, dodgy initiatives from private sector, etc.

Not on the horizon. America has troubles, relative to its own expectations, but its still the world's greatest power by a long margin. Its relative power will decline because other countries are rising (China and India for example), but this is a good thing and will continue to benefit Americans because of increased trade. There may well be a period of economic adjustment and restructuring looming, but America will survive this, just as as it survived the Great Depression.

America is a huge country, with coastlines along the worlds two largest oceans, which is economically and geopolitically advantageous (unlike Europe, China or India). It is extraordinarily well endowed with natural resources. It has large navigable rivers which extend well into it interior. It has a highly skilled and well educated workforce. It is politically unified and faces no internal threats (unlike China). It has numerous allies, some of which are among the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world.
It is the technological and scientific powerhouse of the world. Culturally it is the most influential... etc

Still the future is not yet written. Things change in ways that are not foreseen.  But really... what makes you think it is all about to end? Wishful thinking? Or did you have a theory you would like to share? Why will America fall in the next 50 years?

Even if America's government has to file for bankruptcy in one sense or another, I can't see America as a country collapsing.

Would a state seceding count as a collapse? How about some number of states, and if so, how many?

@ Spyman,

He is talking about collapsing. So it would be caused by internal stuff, making the external situation less important. I am not from America, but looking at the news about America here in Europe, it sounds like the internal differences are getting bigger and bigger. Also, it looks like the Republicans and Democrats are having more and more problems with working together resulting in an increasing powerless goverment.

SO you do have some problems to solve to hold on to the leading position the USA now has.

There is one issue you are neglecting; the USA's terrible education system that is continuing to get worse, and the large influence religion has on the state (which is the cause of the terrible education system). Within 50 years these people will be running the country, and that could lead to some serious problems if the quality of education reflects their future intelligence. The country has a continually growing deficit, and if the next generation isn't too bright for aforementioned reasons, it's quite possible they'll never recover.

Then you have China's continued investment into USA's private sector, and the private sector's influence on the government, you could have an economic takeover of the entire country.

Also, I highly disagree with USA being the scientific and technological powerhouse, Japan and parts of Europe have them beat in that respect. Also, I wouldn't rely on those allies you think you have, most of them rely on China a much larger amount for trade, and if a war were to start between the two, they would more likely support China.

But I suppose I'll get to see what happens. I should quite easily last 50 years.

@TGM perhaps if say... 1/3 of the states secede it's considered a collapse?

And to everyone; a collapse could be caused by an internal or external issue, though an internal one is currently more likely given the current political and economical situation of USA and the world.

Also, the static constitution and broken parliamentary system really isn't going to help either.

USA won't go bankrupt as such unless its politicians refused to raise the debt ceiling, which despite last years' scare is unlikely. It's debt is in dollars, and it can just print more if needed. That could lead to inflation, but as the worlds reserve currency it's not realistically under threat.
The world could have a nuclear war/disaster of some type. Still it's unlikely on the scale to wipe out the US. A natural disaster on this scale is also very very unlikely in the next 50 years.
I agree with the comment that the future looks bright for the USA. It might not always be the biggest economy in the World, but it will be bigger than it is at the moment, and GDP per person/capita is likely to increase, which is what really matters. I think Europe will be OK as well for that matter.
China is a very poor country. It has bigger problems.

"the USA's terrible education system that is continuing to get worse, and the large influence religion has on the state (which is the cause of the terrible education system)." - are you kidding me??? I'm not particularly religious, and I'm also not from parts of the country where I hear there are idiots making religion look really stupid. So from my non-religious perspective, I see our education system failing so badly due to the crap the public education system puts out. Largely due to the union system that rewards seniority and not success.

China has no reason to *want* to start some sort of war, dD -- they benefit from our trade as much as we benefit from theirs.

@KingJohnII

If America ceases to have creditors willing to trust the dollar, then it could very well lose the privileged position the dollar currently affords it. I'll agree however that no matter how severe its financial problems get, the US would survive as a country; either an intervention by an international institution via conditions for finance, or a radical change in government policy would be more likely as a consequence.

I also expect quality of life to improve in America, but only because I expect the world to become a better place to live through technological advance.

The USA isn't anywhere close to falling. This nation has already become the longest-lasting republic in the history of the world that we know of and it's not anywhere close to coming to an end. I believe the height of its power was in the early 1970s before Reagan and Carter both did things to take it away (yes, political advocates - they both did it!). Away from here, I'm sure the news looks bad and that's mostly because the media is all about being the first to predict the firestorm instead of being the first to predict the truth. So here's some info for anyone that's not in the USA.. it's not on the brink of collapse, and it's not on the brink of "civil disorder" as one might say here. There's no civil war coming. Republicans and Democrats are so horribly split because people refuse to even try to agree with one another, which makes me seem like a radical to try and mediate between the two. The GOP calls the war on terrorism the war on Muslims and the Democrats make reforms that are way over the top sometimes too. In other words, both have equally strange problems.

Nonetheless, the USA is the world's power right now, and with Europe looking as dismal as it is, I don't see that changing, no matter what China and India do. The quality of the power we have may have diminished over the last 20 years, but we aren't near a collapse and won't be within my lifetime.

Canada Takes Over USA!!!!!!!!!! LOLS (6 years)

@bo sox

Strangely enough the US from a foreign perspective (or at least a British perspective) doesn't look on the verge of collapse at all. Indeed one of the most remarkable things about the US under Obama is that you've pretty much vanished from our news completely. You could argue that this is simply because we've been focused on problems closer to home, but traditionally in times of economic woe the US has been a global leader trumpeting the virtues of capitalism and forcing people to face up to reality to find a way out of trouble.

American silence has been deafening...

If it wasn't for Webdip I could almost have forgotten you guys existed :p

@ bo_sox

Rome was a Republic from 509 BC until 27BC. We've still got a ways to go to be the longest lasting republic.

376 years, unless the world federation is formed in 2253 instead, then 241years. There is a small chance that the central/south American collapse will not occur until later but that all depends on whether the emperor of Argentina-Brazil buys the black or the white hover zine. The white one, unfortunately, will have a minor defect in the armor plating, and the Antartic alliance will exploit this during the assassination attempt during the pineapple wars.

Not for awhile, we'll all be long dead by the time it happens