Why China is Not Superior

I got into a heated debate with a fellow who went to my same business school. I should note that he was in the part-time program which has a lot less stringent acceptance standards than the full-time program. He went off about how the U.S. has become a joke with countries like India and China as the trail blazers for global expansion. In sum, he said America was dead.

Consider me biased because I am an American, but I can’t be in the minority when I proudly state that the U.S. is the dominant global force to be reckoned with and will be for quite some time, maybe forever. Sure we’ve got our problems. Out government is laughable. Our deficit is unsustainable, but at some point, that problem along with many others will be solved.

If the U.S. was so damn despicable, why do so many come to the U.S. to be educated? This guy I was talking to came from India. If India is as powerful as he seems to think it is, why then did he leave home to go to the University of Chicago? Not only that, why does he continue to stay here? Because we’ve got the best academic institutions and the most opportunity.

Lady Gaga is not a product of China. Asians can’t sing or dance. Yeah, they’re good at math, but you’re not going to see the Grammys or the Oscars or any similar event in Beijing. You know what Asians like? They like American music, American movies, American celebrities. If China’s so great, why are they importing iPads and iPhones? They’re not creative enough to come up with that kind of innovative technology!

Those countries are good for call centers and human capital, but they will never match what we have here in the U.S. which is innovation and enterprise. Amazon, Apple, biotechnology, organic, clean technology, Facebook, philanthropy. I’m just saying.