American Primacy: Its Prospects and Pitfalls

"The end of the Cold War left the United States in a position of power unseen since the Roman Empire. The U.S. economy produces about 25 percent of the world's goods and services; it is more than twice as big as that of Japan, the world's number-two economic power. The United States spends more on defense than the next nine countries combined, and because seven of those nine countries are its close allies, the effective advantage is even larger. The United States is the world leader in higher education and information technology, and its cultural shadow—inmusic, cinema, television, and other arts—is enormous. America's position in the world is not perfect, perhaps, but Americans could hardly ask for much more...."