Does the United States Have the World's Largest Economy? . . . Has the Chinese Century Already Passed?

The Omaha Bugle-Global News Network

The world's two smartest men, Adam and Jeff, consider whether China is poised to wrest the title of the world's largest economy from the United States. The inflexibility of China's mercurial government and its ability to marshall enormous amounts of resources to finish large-scale projects is contrasted with the more open, even anarchic chaos of that of the United States in which many large-scale construction projects can have enormous cost overruns and take added years to complete. Adam and Jeff discuss the many challenges facing China today including a rapidly shrinking and increasingly expensive workforce, a declining growth rate, and a hyper-nationalistic foreign policy that has alienated many nations around the world, including most of those with which it shares a common border. Indeed, Jeff points out that China and Russia have been at each other's throats for most of the past several centuries so it is unlikely that their "eternal alliance" will amount to much more than a few photo opportunities. Adam and Jeff also conclude out that the United States, despite its political divisions and cultural dysfunctions, has the most dynamic economy in the world as well as the dominant banking system and a long tradition of political stability and an on-going adherence to the rule of law. It also boasts a number of allies whose economic and military capabilities dwarf that of China.