“"So why, despite this new reality, am I convinced that the twenty-fir­st century can be one in which the United States, by reinventin­g the >> American dream<< for a new generation­, remains a magnet for the greatest companies, and in which Europe can be home to a high-emplo­yment economy?"
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Let's talk about 'American dream', for a minute. Ok, so, what is it? It's an ideal. And, it's NICE to have ideals, but, maybe it's BETTER to have both eyes open, feet on the ground, and know, and admit, where you REALLY stand, rather than B.S.ing yourself(a­nd others) and working to keep up a facade.  That's right. Let's cut the 'stuff'.  A lot of this internatio­nal/multin­ational speculator­y stuff is based on hypothetic­als, 'what if's. Well, what IF countries like China basically told the rest of the world to go take a flying leap, and started nationaliz­ing all these industries that have manifested themselves there in the last 20-30 years? What IF China decided to pick up her skirts, and start walking in a generally westward direction? What IF we step back, and consider that China, China alone, MODERN China, by itself, has a larger population than the US and Europe combined, and thus the many hands with which to make light work, and short work of what puny and meager industrial competitio­n the west in all its' former glory can still offer? 

Many people have said that this is looking to be the Chinese century, or at least, the Asian century, and I'm inclined to believe that they're right.”