Tuesday, January 29, 2013

When Being the Least Screwed Up Counts

I keep saying I'm an optimist about the prospects of American power in the long run--notwithstanding our current administration's apparent determination to gut the sources of our national strength. This article offers some hope that my view that however much our absolute power is harmed, our relative power will make sure we are the major force on the globe for a long time.

Pining for a new Europe superpower should at least wait for the current one to die, shouldn't it?

We're not dead yet, as that article starts:

In a report to clients, analysts at Goldman Sachs argue that the United States still has the world's strongest economy -- and will for years. There is a growing "awareness of the key economic, institutional, human capital and geopolitical advantages the U.S. enjoys over other economies," contend Goldman's analysts.

The writer citing this report says we shouldn't rejoice too much since the Western world is teetering even if you can't say America is uniquely stumbling.

So mind you, our relative dominance requires other sources of potential power to screw the pooch even more than we do. But that is happening. And we have sources of power that cushion policy idiocy.