China and 21st Century Economic Domination.

As Steven Mosher points out in his book Hegemon: China's Plan to Dominate Asia and theWorld, China has been the dominant population and world economic power for 48 of the last 50 centuries. The American economic empire has not yet collapsed, but already China owns too many of our bonds, and the more debt we have the more they emerge as a country who could knock the USA off its economic high horse.

There are still some assets in America's corner. The USA dominates the world culture, and as such consumption of goods in other countries follows our leadership. If we like jeans, then jeans will sell in most countries of the world, and with the possible exception of Bollywood, there are no film capitals that rival Hollywood.

That being said, it strikes me that the divided government the USA now has, with its likely focus politics over the greater good, means that we wont be able to either stimulate the economy or clear up our debt. I hope I am wrong, but at this point we seem to be adrift, and no significant change in either direction is pending. So unless we are fortunate to have some good luck, other countries will find their way out of the great Recession faster than we will.