The Idea Exchange

I’ve posted on here before about the US losing its edge in certain areas such as engineering and education.  While I believe this is still true, I came across a very interesting article in this week’s edition of The Economist.  The title sums it up well: “Still #1.”

The article basically states that although the United States may seem weakened right now due to the War on Iraq among other things, America still has its hold on the lone superpower position.  China has been growing and will soon take over the US in terms of economic size and purchasing power but still has a very unstable political structure that could crack at any time.  Investing in countries such as China is a great idea right now, but a large amount of risk is involved due to this unstable political structure.  The Bush Administration, according to the article, has set the US back in the short term, but has not actually affected the balance of power that the United States still holds.

The United States still carries the most “hard” power because it has the largest and most powerful military force.  The emergence of China and India is only good for the United States because these emerging economies will be trading a much larger volume of goods with the US.

 I believe this article is correct in all of its claims.  I would only like to add a cautionary aside.  The United States may still be on top for now, but if we continue to have poor political leadership or don’t improve our education system and overall motivation, the balance of power could shift dramatically. 

What has gotten the US to the point it’s at, will not necessarily allow it to remain at the top.  The playing field has changed, and there is a new set of rules.  The balance of power will shift to whomever can adapt, embrace, and create these new rules better than anyone else.