The laments of the superpowerful

It is hard for me to share James Surowiecki's sense of injustice over the fact that Europeans are once again taking advantage of America without doing their fair share. It is a familiar refrain and I have to say that given the status of America as the sole superpower, it is hard to empathize (easier to sympathize) because after all with power comes great responsibilities as well as great freedoms. All one has to do is to read Krugman's post  last week on Spain (even though he shares the views that Europeans aren't doing enough. An official of the European Central Bank responded to this assertion in the Wall Street Journal) to understand why Europe can't follow the "lead" of United States especially given the fact that its president doesn't seem to know its own mind when it comes to economic issues. Sugary excerpt:

The thing about government spending is that it “leaks”: a good chunk of our stimulus package will buy other countries’ goods. So Europeans can avoid getting too deeply into debt and still reap some of the benefits of our borrowing. This is unfair: in effect, Europe is refusing to carry its share of the global economic burden and is piggybacking on us. But it’s hard to see how things could have turned out otherwise. The U.S. economy, much more than Europe’s, is like the proverbial shark: if it doesn’t keep moving forward, it dies (or at least creates a lot of misery). In some sense, we need economic growth more than Europe does. It’s not surprising that we’re going to be the ones who end up paying for it.

Comments

[Austin Burbridge]

Aw, Kiki, doesn't the cliché "sole superpower" deserve retirement in favor of some more considered epithet? "Last superpower standing" might at least be a more accurate description, don't you think?

[Kiki]

I will agree with you. I'm even wondering if the term superpower isn't too strong and becoming irrelevant in a time when it is becoming clear that real power especially on the international scene is a mirage.