How would the world react if the US disappeared?

[Vizardlorde]

And I don't mean that the US gets obliterated by terrorists or kidnapped by aliens. What I mean is that the US peacefully decides that each State has sovereignty and there would no longer be a country known as the United States of America. All of these 50 new countries form an alliance like the European Union named North American Union. By becoming independent countries the States forsake the federal debt and start from scratch. How would the world react to this? Would it support the "new" States and forget about the debt while taking a devastating blow in the economies everywhere? Would it declare war on North America? What do you guys think?

[Tokru]

The whole world forgetting about this huge amount of debt? Enjoy an invasion.


And even when noone wanted to invade, your economy would end up devasted even more than that of the rest of the world. Foreign companies going bankrupt setting millions of Americans on the street. Even if companies still wanted to trade with you international sanctions would not allow it

[N-7]

There won't be necessary war but it would be a stupid move in USA part and it will rub lots of angry countries (referring to the debt part). So, yeah your scenario is kinda in the realm of impossible.

[Deleted]

With a big WTF!

No seriously, a reaction to such an extreme scenario is unpredictable. But I see no reason why there would be war.

[Segosa]

It would work out sorta like what the USA was intended to be like in the first place...

There could potentially be a few major issues though... Outlining States on the East/West coast and those boardering Canada/Mexico would be carrying a heavy burden of protecting the inner states... I could see those states turning more into what many refer to as a "Police State"... Mass survalliance, restricted transportation, ext... You would eventually see some internal Intellegence sharing program between states. And as soon as it's empowered by the states to step in and help stop attacks by force... well... where that could possibly lead to potentially dangerous for the 50 states.

How the trading of goods is handled could also be affected. Domestic trading (from other states) and also overseas/international trading. It all depends on how greedy people try to get... the citizens of each state would need to pay more attention to the politicians (which they can more easily do now... since everything is more localized)... and hold them accountable.

Just a few of the things that come to mind...

How the rest of the world reacts is something I couldn't begin to predict. From a defense standpoint, I think the states would be fine, if each of them adopted the 2nd amandment (right to bear arms)... and each state had adequate missle defense systems in place... No country in their right minds would try putting troops on a foreign land where the mass majority of non-military citizens own guns.

Meh. Time for work

[Puri]

The whole world forgetting about this huge amount of debt? Enjoy an invasion.

Fight a war over debt that will cost you more than you could ever gain? Modern wars are fought economical, not military.

There have been many bankruptcies of countries in the course of history, this would be nothing else. Yes, it would be impossible for foreign debtees to get their money back. But it would also be impossible for former US banks and private companies to demand their money from non-US debtors since they are no longer protected by the former US law.
So it would lead to an economical catastrophy for the US, and also for the rest of the world. The capitalistic system probably would break down, and the world would go into an anarchic dark age.

[vizzle]

Canada will reign supreme.

[In Ogres We Trust]

The whole world forgetting about this huge amount of debt? Enjoy an invasion.

Enjoy getting your **** pushed in by the remains of the US military. On top of that, there are only two nations on the planet that can maintain a naval power to attack the United States or any remnant of it: Britain and France. In the future, that number could possibly rise to include China and Russia, but, in reality, it won't matter because you're attempting to fight a campaign on the other side of the planet (I won't bother with the arms of the population).

[semaphore]

By becoming independent countries the States forsake the federal debt and start from scratch

The global economy will collapse by the time it takes for a phone call to wake someone up. It will be 2008 on steroids, than gave birth to super mutants who then takes even more steroids.

[The High Druid]

Don't see how the debt could be forgotten.

Any country / company owed money by the federal US would make best efforts to recover it from the new union, so the new unions bargaining power in the world economy would be off to a very, very bad start. There would be a whole host of arguing over military assets, which of the new countries gets to own the aircraft carriers etc. Hawaii would have a pretty impressive navy for it's size otherwise.

I don't see war happening, but I do see the new union collapsing in short order as each of the states works towards it's own benefit. California would go fully independent. You'd probably get some sort of north/south split again and Washington and Alaska would probably join Canada.

[aekya]

The world, would breath in relief as the big tyrant is gone, and hope for a better country appears.
But in general, it wouldnt care at all, US tends to over think their importance to foreigners, most of us dont care about the US at all, we have our own lives, countries, cultures, pass times and interests that have nothing to do with it.

To the states themselves, likely war would ensue, mostly due to groups of greedy bastards, the populace likely wouldnt care less either, but not like they have any say in the matter

[Maharishi]

The whole world forgetting about this huge amount of debt? Enjoy an invasion.

America owns more foreign debt than it owes. Most American debt is owed to itself.
Also:
No nation bashing. Only warning.

[semaphore]

Enjoy getting your **** pushed in by the remains of the US military.

Enjoy fighting a civil war then, because most of the debt is owned by Americans.

[aekya]

Help is on the way，Romney/Obama will bring this country back to its former glory.

Doubt it to be fairly honest... lived there for several years and the infrastructure is outdated in general, mentality would need to change quite a lot as well.
The leaders are always blamed, but the faults dont rest on their shoulders alone, it is the people who make a country, if a country fell down it is just as the peoples fault as it is of their leaders.

A few decades ago the populace venerated scientists, they had fame for that reason alone, nowadays they worship retarded pop idols, creatures who are useless, leeches of society who bring nothing to the country, while the people who try hard and do improve the country are forgotten on the backstage, known only to a few people.

But... its easier to blame the president.

[Deleted]

Enjoy getting your **** pushed in by the remains of the US military. On top of that, there are only two nations on the planet that can maintain a naval power to attack the United States or any remnant of it: Britain and France. In the future, that number could possibly rise to include China and Russia, but, in reality, it won't matter because you're attempting to fight a campaign on the other side of the planet (I won't bother with the arms of the population).

Who will pay their wages? The OP says the USA no longer exists, so what will they fight for? I find it much more likely that the survivors will be taken in by the commonwealth, there is no way they can remain an independent force.

[traen]

Well, its easy to to predict what would happen after Superpower breaks into pieces.

You just have to look what happened to USSR.

Major inflation and 20 years of misery. No wars. And no one would care about "NAU", like most of us never heard about "CIS" (thats how they call the union of former USSR republics).

[Myrlae]

But I see no reason why there would be war.

debt is the keyword

[Primernova]

404 please, this will only get worse.

[Detheavn]

My WoW be gone :'(

[Puri]

America owns more foreign debt than it owes. Most American debt is owed to itself.

You do realize that in OPs scenario you would not only get rid of your debt, but you would also get rid of any debt claim you have. This is what people tend to forget here.
Additionally, what currency do you plan to use? The USD is worthless, there would be an incredible inflation in the former US. All savings will be lost.
To establish a currency foreign countries would be willing to accept means giving it some meaning, for example by returning to the gold standard. Until then, you won't be able for example to buy oil on the foreign market. So that price would also skyrocket in the US, and go down for the rest of the world.