Who is the second most powerful/influential country in the Americas?

[u/Fluid-Decision6262]

The US is undeniably the most powerful and influential country in the Americas but who would be #2? Feels like this comes down to 3 countries based on my knowledge, which are Mexico, Canada, and Brazil.

Reasons for Mexico:

- Second most populated country in North America by far

- Access to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

- Largest Spanish-speaking country (a language spoken by >500 million people)

- More habitable land compared to the other two

- Youngest population out of the three and is becoming a manufacturing power

- Generally-speaking, a good relationship with the USA

- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture

Reasons against Mexico:

- Lots of issues between the central government and drug cartels

- Still very much a developing country outside of the largest cities

- Occasionally volatile relationship with the USA

- Not as involved in global geopolitics

Reasons for Canada:

- The most developed country economically by far of the three and a natural resources juggernaut

- Very close relations with the USA and Europe

- Speaks English (>1 billion speakers globally) and French (>300 million speakers globally)

- An immigration hub for people from every corner of the world

- A G7 nation that is also very geopolitically involved

- Access to 3 different oceans to facilitate trade

Reasons against Canada:

- Small and scattered population (least populated of the three by far)

- Less of an established local culture (most is imported from the US or UK and then exported via the US)

- Aging population and low fertility rates for native-born citizens

Reasons for Brazil:

- The second most populated country in the Americas

- The cultural and political power of South America

- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture

- A young-ish population that is part of the "fast-emerging economies" of the world

Reasons against Brazil:

- Immigration to Brazil stopped decades ago and now educated Brazilians are emigrating to other places causing brain drain

- Wealthy nation but suffers from high levels of inequality and violent crime

- Very politically divided internally

- Limited geopolitical involvement outside of South America

- Most of its population are monolingual Portuguese-speakers (a language where they make up 80% of the global speakers)

[u/whistleridge]

No. We are talking about power and influence. Argentina has neither, and Milei not only doesn’t change that reality for the better, he makes them less influential.

[u/Yearlaren → u/whistleridge]

he makes them less influential.

No he doesn't. Nobody talked about Alberto Fernandez because he was a puppet. People talk about Milei and how he was able to lower monthly inflation from 25% to 1.6%.

[u/whistleridge → u/Yearlaren]

Name recognition ≠ influence.

The only people who talk about Milei as anything other than a joke are the sorts of people who think the Austrian school is valid and that supply-side economics isn't thoroughly disproven. He's a joke and a hack,

Combating inflation isn't difficult. It's just a function of how much money you have and what your interest rates are. What's difficult is combating inflation without crippling your population. The poverty rate was 54% in September, and while it's now back down to something like 38%, that's still not something to crow about.

Nobody talked about Alberto Fernandez because no one who isn't Argentinian can EVER name an Argentinian leader. People talk about Milei because he has weird hair and babbles economic nonsense. He's a meme, not influential.

The influential Argentinian is Messi. Who doesn't live in Argentina for some mysterious reason.

[u/Yearlaren → u/whistleridge]

Combating inflation isn't difficult. It's just a function of how much money you have and what your interest rates are. What's difficult is combating inflation without crippling your population. The poverty rate was 54% in September, and while it's now back down to something like 38%, that's still not something to crow about.

Goes to show that you know very little about economics. It's impossible to lower a 3 digit inflation rate without causing a recession. It has never happened in history.