See http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080501facomment87303/fareed-zakaria/the-future-of-american-power.html
Excellent article, especially: In this and other regards, the United States is not doing worse than usual. It functions as it always has -- perhaps subconsciously assuming that it is still leagues ahead of the pack. U.S. legislators rarely think about the rest of the world when writing laws, regulations, and policies. U.S. officials rarely refer to global standards. After all, for so long the United States was the global standard, and when it chose to do something different, it was important enough that the rest of the world would cater to its exceptionality. The United States is the only country in the world other than Liberia and Myanmar that is not on the metric system. Other than Somalia, it is alone in not ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In business, the United States did not need to benchmark. It was the one teaching the world how to be capitalist. But now everyone is playing the United States' game, and playing to win. Paul Trusten, R.Ph. 3609 Caldera Blvd. Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA +1(432)528-7724 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
