US economic power

[Fuchs]

Adam,

The United States is still #1 in manufacturing...

Statistics...
You're right for official exchange rates (but everybody knows that the Renminbi is too cheap). But you're wrong at purchasing power parity exchange rates.

USA:
GDP = USD 13.84 trillion
industry: 20.5% share of GDP
2.837 trillion industrial value added, USD

PR China:
GDPppp = USD 6.991 trillion
GDP = USD 3.251 trillion
industry: 48.6% share of GDP
3.398 trillion industrial value added, USDppp
1.580 trillion industrial value added, USD

As I said before, money is just an illusion. The offiial exchange rates are a wrong illusion.
PPP exchange rates are a less incorrect illusion.

(source: CIA World Factbook, everything 2007 estimates)

Two points...
2. Too big to fail.
If the US ever suffered a significant depression or other economic calamity then the world would need to think of something quick, because our economy is "too big to fail." If we go down, then Japan and China are going to be holding some worthless paper, oil producers are going to see demand plummet, every country with a current account surplus is going to be living off of its reserves, Africa and the UN get no more money, South America gets the double whammy of no more aid and less demand for their illicit drugs, and Europe can try to piece it all together while supporting their welfare states.

If America is in decline, then the world is in decline.

You overestimate the relevance of the USA.
It's correct that the somewhat close economic ties can export U.S. economic troubles to most of the world. But that's only a short-term effect. Few per cent of the German GDP are related to trade with the U.S., for example - and the trade is a drain on its resources, not a push to its economy.
All countries that have a positive trade balance with the U.S. are actually feeding it - they could consume their own goods or export to other nations instead. The economic should would just cause short-term adaption costs.
Nobody really depends on working for Americans for promises to pay sometime in return.

Africa and the UN actually get a lot of money from other countries than the US.

European trade with the USA is actually not so overwhelmingly large as many people suppose. Its exports are diverse, so it would be possible to consume much of it in Europe or elsewhere.
And the reference to welfare state - well, that reminds me of a stereotypic misunderstanding by Americans. We pay to steer the society a bit and to keep the poor less poor. That's actually not more expensive than to have a higher crime rate and 0.75% of the countries' population in jail.