[AnotherUnixGeek]

Some of y’all think that the US will easily dominate the next century.

Not easily, and perhaps not at all. But I think the prospect of US military, economic, and cultural dominance in the 21st century is far more likely than that of China's.

Don’t be so sure. China bares little resemblance to it’s Communist name. It is much more like a dictatorship with a market economy.

And there's a basic problem with that setup. All governments act at times in ways that harm the economy - dictatorships have more reasons to do this, because maintaining power must take priority over economic growth, and dictatorships can't be stopped from doing it by an angry electorate.

China has 1.4 billion people, many whom are blossiming enterpeneurs and many whom are extremely hard working.

The same could be said (with a slightly reduced population, a legal system based on British common law, and a functioning democracy) of India. My money is still on the US.

[Barney Gumble]

And there's a basic problem with that setup. All governments act at times in ways that harm the economy - dictatorships have more reasons to do this, because maintaining power must take priority over economic growth, and dictatorships can't be stopped from doing it by an angry electorate.

A similar thing could be said about democracies though. How many times have the Democrats seemed to stymie economic growth here, because a good economy means a re-elected party? How many "the economy is awful" stories did we hear before the 2004 elections (which seemed to have stopped immediately after the election)?