>(1) Globally, the EU owns the world-system, and can (and will) do anything
>it damn well pleases.
Except that the EU barely exists as a political entity - they can barely choose the head of their central bank (and, by the way, the lucky Dutchman who will, Wim Duisenberg, thinks the Fed's practice of publishing highly sanitized minutes of their policy meetings is too open!). The U.S. can do what it damn well pleases right now too. What other country could run $200 billion current account deficits in its own currency?
Speaking of political cohesion, what is it with the Japanese ruling class? They seem barely able to function as a coherent political force in the midst of an endless slump. And that's mainly a domestic affair; even at the height of Japan's financial power, there was minimal projection of Japanese imperial power abroad. Not so the U.S. ruling class, which, despite the fact that it owes big money to the other two metropoles, is very coherent, forceful, and confident.
Doug