“Huh, they don’t even mention Europe. Has not Brussels anything in store for us?”
They do mention Europe. In fact, they mention a great many things, such as that China’s economic growth will have slowed dramatically by 2025 rather than raging forward at double digits for 30 straight years. The only thing anyone is writing about is “the end of American power,” however.
I’m not sure I understand why so many articles claim the dollar is no longer the world’s major currency in this paper, which implies something else is, when in fact the paper projects the dollar to be ‘first among equals.’
I’m still blown away that any country in our position routinely releases these types of high-profile reports ripping ourselves down. Nothing, anywhere, that anyone else does, has as much of a negative impact on our soft power and perceptions of our place in the world as when ourselves say we’re hapless and helpless as the world overtakes us.
And, of course, the implication of each of these articles is that things have gotten much bleaker for America’s future in this report versus the last 4 years ago, and so by the next report the U.S. will have completely fallen off the top run and be third or fourth in the peking order internationally in two decades.
Well, I’m no intelligence officer, but if I was, I wouldn’t write about my current strengths. I’d write a report detailing future disasters, and what the fed gov must spend money on now to avoid them, and, in the process, keep myself employed as a valuable prognosticator.