> the fact that the US remains the central export market for the
> rest of the world is the single most important factor underlying
> its economic and political domination of the world economy.
This advantage is slipping away fast. In 2005, the total trade (imports plus exports) of Europe (defined as the EU-25 plus Norway, Switzerland, the accession countries, etc.) with the US was only 4.1% of Europe's GDP. Japan's total trade with the US was only 3.7% of Japan's GDP.
I wonder what will happen now that the US housing bubble, the major prop to this subpar expansion, is imploding. Some of the short-term indicators out there are scary. Nouriel Roubini (http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/) thinks this will trigger an outright recession. We shall see...
-- DRR