The US are the most important economy in the world for ONE SINGLE FACTOR:

- It is the ONLY large economic area where there are still free markets and entrepreneurship is valued.

Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and to a much lesser degree New Zealand and a few other areas are also rather good, but they are very, very small compared to the US.

In economic terms, they do matter: Switzerland is the 7th largest exporter of services and the 13th largest exporter of industrial goods, which is an absolutely stunning performance for a country of just 7 million, but the US achieve performances not that far off with 300 million people.

No economy that is less free than the US can ever compete with the US, period!

The only way any other economy will ever be able to compete and overtake the US is if either:

- the US see their economic AND individual freedom substantially reduced (and I hope even Obama, if he were elected president, would not be able to do that, although it's exactly what he'd want)

- some other large country increases their level of freedom substantially to the point of being equal to or better than the US for at least 2 generations.

A bureaucratic monster like the EU will NEVER be competitive.

Anyone who thinks the EU as it is now could compete with the US is a fool.

As for China, it's easy to have massive growth rates as long as you're just catching up with the status quo, but once you're close to that level, things can only improve through INNOVATION and that only happens when there is both, economic AND individual freedom.

Economic freedom has gained substantially, it is now possible to be an entrepreneur in China, but the limits are there: after a certain point, you have to cozy up with government or one of the groups close to government and that's the end of the entrepreneurial freedom.

That's why a falling US market means a falling Chinese market.

This is a fact!

So why is America choosing the ideas of Redistribution of Wealth"?
Everyone working according to his abilities and getting according to his needs" That's what Marxism is, that's what curse is. We all know that without proper discrimination of abilities and profits, no development can ever happen, because it is detrimental.
So are the americans ignoring that reality?
Barack Obama on Chicago Public Radio WBEZ-FM, 2001: The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society... and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that...
Is Obama a Marxist? Bidden gets angry!
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=sQXcImQfubM

2001 OBAMA: 'TRAGEDY' THAT 'REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH' NOT PURSUED
http://www.drudgereport.com/