The world's superpower

[Notthemama1984]

I apologize to begin with if the topic is off limits.

I am reading this article China economy grew to world's 3rd largest in 2007 - Yahoo! News and it talks about if the US GDP did not grow, it would still take China 20 years to overtake the US as the world's superpower.

I hear it all the time though in the news that the days of the US being the world's superpower is over, so is this a case of overreacting in order to sell papers?

 

[Hamalas]

Interesting article. However we have to keep in mind that economic growth is not the only factor.

 

[ColdSilverMoon]

Yes, a lot of it is the typical alarmist media hype about everything. Consider these factors:

Economics - despite a relative economic downturn, the US economy is still by far the world's largest and most important. While the EU (25 industrialized nations combined with 100+ million more people than the US) has a slightly larger GDP, they also have lower per capita GDP, lower per capita income, and nearly double the unemployment rate. Not trying to put down Europe at all, just trying to show that the US is still far and away the dominant economic power when you consider that it takes an entire highly developed continent with 25% more people to match the American economy. And like you said, China is WAY behind - much farther than people realize. My brother makes $17,000 a year in China and lives like a king.

Military - no other military comes close to matching the US right now. There's just no comparison in technology, training, strategic global positioning, etc, to any other nation, China and Russia included.

Media influence - the American media and entertainment industry is by far the most influential in the world. Go to any country, turn on the TV, and odds are you won't have to watch too long before you see an American TV show. Turn on the radio and you'll likely hear American music. That may be good or bad, but the point is American media has a huge global influence well beyond any other country.

Education - the secondary and elementary public schools need a lot of work, but the university system is definitely the best. The UK has elite universities like Oxford and Cambridge, but overall the US has the best university system top to bottom. The US takes a huge number of foreign students every year into its schools, including from other industrialized nations. American science and technology research is still the best overall in the world. In 2007 Americans swept the Nobel prizes.

Health care - for all the criticism the US health care system gets, the US still has the most cutting edge medical technology and most innovative treatments, and the residency training system is by far the best and most respected in the world.

All that to say the US is still a dominant force in just about every area a nation can be a "superpower." In some ways its status has diminished because other countries have progressed significantly, which is great. But in terms of its overall influence and power, no one else is close to the US right now...

 

[Hamalas]