We?re No. 11! - Aug 2010
aka "How To Understand American Decline"
[LINKHOTTED]
Like the summer heat, fear of America?s impending decline is weighing on Washington these days. Has the United States lost its oomph as a superpower? Even President Obama isn?t immune from the gloom. ?Americans won?t settle for No. 2!? Obama shouted at one political rally in early August.
How about No. 11? That?s where the U.S.A. ranks in NEWSWEEK?s list of the 100 best countries in the world,
not even in the top 10. And as the worst recession since the ?30s festers on, along with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, no number of legislative triumphs?financial reform! health care!?seem capable of lifting the nation out of its doldrums.
On any number of indicators, according to the NEWSWEEK list, the United States is not the worldbeater it was a decade ago. ?On economic fundamentals such as GDP growth, household consumption, industrial production, and trade, the U.S. was ahead on most metrics 10 years ago,? says James Manyika, director of the McKinsey Global Institute. Today, in contrast, America barely makes the top quartile, and it?s fallen to the bottom quartile in R&D.
FULL ARTICLE
It's good to be, errr.... 11th.
