How USA Should Compete With The Emerging Power Of China, India And Russia And Maintain Its Economic Supremacy | “Stay Hungry. St

India, China
and Russia are widely considered a three-tiered threat to the US in terms of
economic supremacy, mostly because these three countries combined account for
40% of the global population and 20% of its economy. On the other hand, the US
is in the midst of a serious trade deficit that many consider catastrophic.

The US emerged
as a global superpower after World War II, mainly because of the role of the US
dollar as the global reserve currency. In this role, the US was able to enjoy
considerable control over international currency and freedom from the necessity
of keeping any other currency in reserve, what is termed monetary hegemony. In
history, this hegemony has been threatened periodically, the latest being the
Japan threat in the 1980s, the astronomical economic rise proved to be
unsustainable. Their edge was technology and work ethic discipline. In the end,
the US economy recovered with as Japan went into decline through excessive
consumption and bad credit policy.

The greatest
threat to US economic supremacy today is the rise of yet other Asian countries.
The rapid progress is in technology-based industries, with China followed
closely by India leading the pack away from the West. These emerging economies
are disciplined. highly educated, productive, dynamic and young, with huge
populations fueling local markets and launching international trade from a
solid economic base. And with economic power on the rise, the next step is
geopolitical strength. But is it sustainable? Perhaps, because these two
countries have huge populations unlike Japan, local industries will probably
continue to thrive even without American consumerism although perhaps not at
present levels. The US cannot count on these countries fizzling out because of
the changing global economic structures.

What the US
can count on are its resources: the land and the people. There is a need for
the US to recognize that a major contributor to economic decline is the failure
to invest in the future. Poor educational outcomes has shrunk the capabilities
of the young to compete effectively in the global market with more disciplined,
higher motivated, better educated Asians. The focus on education has been lost
and needs to be given extensive support by the government as well as the
general public as a national resource.

Another focus
lost is the impetus for entrepreneurship, the pursuit of the American dream,
mainly because of stringent corporate governance that makes it difficult for the
little guy to make a dent in industry. Non-traditional businesses such as
Internet-related industries still holds promise and generate many jobs, but the
flexibility such industries enjoy should be carried over into other business
sectors as well through tax incentives and favorable corporate governance
regulations. This will encourage local businesses to invest at home, as well as
multinational and foreign companies. Because Americans are the world’s largest
consumers, balance in terms of industrial trade-offs would have a significant
impact on the GDP and other economic indicators such as employment rates.

In relation to
consumerism, Americans also consume huge amounts of energy, which accounts for
their dependence on oil and gas. But the huge resources available to the US
make it possible to seek viable alternate sources of energy with the support of
industry and government. Alternative renewable energy can be wrung from the
water, wind or the earth (corn, sugarcane) with new innovations making them commercially
and economically possible, which will enable the US to ease out from under the
economic burden of acquiring oil to make the country run.

Regaining
monetary hegemony may be more complicated in the global economy but the US
still retains the capacity to turn this around if only its government and
citizens realize that the best remedy is investment in future generations
through education, business development and energy revolution and desire to
learn. The desire to be the best is the desires of remaining unsatisfied.
Success belongs to unsatisfied. “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish” as Steve Jobs said
at Stanford University in 2005.