IS THE US POWER IN DECLINE?

DECLINE OF US POWER ONLY RELATIVE

Chen Weihua

China Daily, March 10, 2012

A growing number of Americans are displaying anxiety and pessimism about the perception that the United States is in decline on the world stage.

The media are constantly raising the alarm that the US' privilege and prestige are slipping away, and the great minds of the nation are earnestly debating what that means and what can be done.

All this is understandable in the wake of the global financial crisis, which has placed capitalism under scrutiny, and the US' high unemployment, huge national debt, and ballooning budget deficit.

While spending trillions of dollars on the war on terror in the past decade, the US has failed to address such necessary tasks as upgrading its infrastructure and fixing its education system.

This is in stark contrast to the phenomenal growth achieved in the past decade by emerging countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, whose combined GDP is expected to surpass that of the US by 2015.

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