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I took a class on the economics of empire. One of the big problems with calling the U.S. an empire is that it doesn't fit the profile of any empire that came before it. When you start pulling apart and analyzing past empires you start to realize that no two empires were very similar in their goals or methodology. I think that this causes a fair amount of cognitive dissonance for anyone who is antiquated with empires, their methods and motives historically. The overwhelming consensus for the students in the class was that America was an empire, but it took a bit of time and debate to win over some of the class.