Ha, we in Acela-stan will be fine United by our high (ish) speed profitable national railway with all those nearby third world countries to exploit. After we set up tinpot dictators and plantations, californiastan will have no chance!
the people’s republic of california was one of those mega rich countries i was referring to; it can literally hold its own against other established global north countries like the uk or france by itself today and would absolutely dominate a balkanized united states
acela-stan doesn’t stand a chance against the PRC, but it’s neighbor, estados unidos de neuva york, does. it’s still a 3:1 comparison; but it’s much more fair than acela-stan’s 6:1. the holy texan empire (aka jesus land) would be the closest rival to the PRC, but it’s a very distant second at 2:1 comparison to the PRC.
all of the countries between these three mega rich countries would turn into vassals states or conflict proxies between each other; as rich countries have want to do; and both canada and mexico are in danger of getting sucked in too if california, as we know it today, is in play.
Not a chance. Our national high(ish) speed railroad will hold our states together from the hub of the universe to Nueva York, through Libertydelphia and and down to DC. We have feeder lines out to frontier towns like Albany, out to Pennsyltucky, up north to the provinces, and spreading out through Virginia to stagecoach hubs in the plantation colonies. The railroad built the US before and it can do the same now
We have the civilization, the money, the population. We don’t even need an imagination but can build our wealth through exploiting our colonies next door just like our ancestors did. Our GDP is instantly the worlds third largest economy, leaving the PRC as a distant fifth
I’m especially excited over the profit to be made as the Rust Republic tries to come alive. They need to rebuild the waterways and railroads that facilitated their rise a century ago but this time they’ll have the entire global supply chain to compete with and no one to protect them. They’ll need our money so we’ll have so much opportunity to get rich. I’ll get in early with investing in a rebirth of the Pinkertons. The Rust Republic will no longer be able to afford to give their labor so many benefits, living wages, guarantees, workplaces safety. We’ll make so much money paying almost nothing to get a bunch of Rednecks to beat the unions out of existence
Republican of California has no chance, no downtrodden population to exploit, not tinpot dictators to install over nothing. And they’ll be too busy trying to steal all the remaining water resources to keep properly exploit other resources
there’s no single cultural identity that unifies the people in the east coast megapolis besides being american and they don’t even vote the same way now so they can’t even agree on what that means today; unlike the californians.
but yes, they would dominate if you figure out how to socially glue them together somehow. the california megapolis, on the other hand, already have those things that suggests a strong cultural identity to such a degree that they have a collective nickname for californians who don’t tow the groupthink line: “little texas”. (the nickname is so pervasive that several past governors had used it). in the case of balkinization; the california megapolis is already primed and ready to go it alone whereas you’ll need time, effort and patience to create acela-stan and you also have to hope that none of the other countries somehow don’t interfere for generations while that’s happening. history proves that rich countries always interfere and neuva york alone will both be significantly richer during balkanization and already has a stronger cohesive cultural identity than that of the rest of the east coast megapolis. i would expect they will take efforts to make sure acela-stan never comes into existence as history has also proven that rich countries always do when faced w potential competitor.
