While the financial news has been pretty bleak lately, Bloomberg columnist Kevin Hassett refutes the contention that America’s economy is on a long downward slope. In terms of world gross domestic product, he says, the U.S. has held steady at 20% for decades. The value of U.S. imports in 2006 was roughly the same as the entire GDP of France. America is the world's largest exporter, has the largest share of the value of global-equity trading at more than 40%, and attracts the largest amount of foreign domestic investment in the world. Concludes Hassett:

“Given the relative size of the U.S. armed forces, there is little doubt the U.S. will have to take a leading role going forward in assuring world security. Looking both at the economic and the military facts, one can only conclude that the U.S. is a singular nation, and will likely be so for a long, long time.”