Is America still the most powerful country in the world?

Yes, militarily, culturally and economically, for the time being.

Most Powerful Country

AMERICA has been the world's leading economic power since 1871. It has contributed some 30% on average to world GDP since 1960 and made up 22% of the cake in 2011 (at market exchange rates). China meanwhile, contributes just 10%, but has seen its share of world GDP rise meteorically, from just 1.8% in 1991. The perception in some countries that America is no longer the world's pre-eminent economy is therefore somewhat premature.

According to a new poll carried out in 21 countries by the Pew Research Centre. There has been an increasing swing towards China; in 2008 just one country polled thought China more economically powerful than America, now 11 do. The residents of the two countries at the heart of the discussion seem to have a rather self-deprecating view of themselves: on balance, Americans believe China to be more economically powerful, whereas the Chinese think America is. Perceptions aside, on current trends, China will surpass America somewhere around 2018.

It's a paradox. The USA is the most powerful nation in the world, but it is not as powerful as regular people think. That's why both Vietnam and Iraq went so badly for the USA. People thought the USA is the strongest nation, so it can fight wars with small countries with partial commitment. (or no commitment, like bay of pigs). We could have won Vietnam if we had 2 million soldiers, 80% of the Navy, the entire Marine Corps, the entire Air force, and the same amount of tanks and guns as we did in WW2. If we maintained that commitment for 12 years, Vietnam would now be Japan of the South Pacific. Same with Iraq. If we conscripted or enlisted 4 million men several hundred thousand tanks, the entire air force and navy, left afghanistan, and made soldiers do 4 or 5 year tours of duty, and stayed in Iraq for about 20 years, we could make it the largest Muslim democracy in the region, and a constitution that guarantees civil liberties and freedom of religion.

The theme is America is powerful, but the public thinks political and cultural power are the same as military conquest power. Wrong. America's stupider presidents and secretaries of defense think countries can be beaten with a handful of green berets and drones and a few billion dollar stealth bombers. Then the public gets upset if one thousand casualties occur. America is a strong country, but it tends to think it's invicible and acts shocked when soldiers die in war or the war takes longer than the four year election cycle.

Somalia, Yemen, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Venezuela: These are all "weak" countries where America could lose a war if they underestimated their enemies.

Maybe,...if it was left to flourish on it's own without corrupt intervention.

But, "being the most powerful country"

cannot be further from the truth if we just do it all on a massive "charge card"..

Look at it this way

In the 1930's Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared America Bankrupt.

Now apply that same situation to your own household.

Would you say that a persons family is powerful

even when they are drowning in irrevesible debt ?

For now we are but were on a slippery slope. We simply can't go on much longer with a debt this high while allowing in tons of illegal immigrants who destroy our culture. My hope is though that if we can stamp out the last remnants of power hungry countries like NK we can really push for world piece.

It depends on how you define powerful. I love our nation very much, but it is on a downhill slope- a steep one of you ask me. We have made cuts on our armed forces, and it is more likely than not that we have no gold in Fort Knox to back our currency. On the other hand, if push comes to shove, we can ignore the environmental codes and drill the vast amount of oil in the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. We are more important than polar bears. Our nation is difficult to attack because as a Japanese general said, "there is a rifle behind every blade of grass." As a result of the sandy hook shooting, they are trying to place bans on owning guns even though it is one of our constitutional rights. These laws would increase the vulnerability of our nation. The writing on the wall is clear. Maybe voting better leaders would help turn the current state of our nation around.

Not Until Both Parties pull out of the Globalization, Free Market, Foreign Influence, Mass Immigration, Foreign Owned Debt, Foreign Wars (unless our national secuirty isn't hamred), etc

I don't think it's a matter of who's the most powerful, anymore. Nukes are kind of removing the necessary to be powerful. Take N Korea, for example

No, China has oveertaken in all aspects except per capita income. But if you added 5x the population to america the per capita would be about the same. So China is now.

Absolutely