Stagnating West or Emerging East?

Question

Is the history beginning to repeat itself. Throughout the history only East has been richer than the west. Only in the last two centuries west took over the power due to imperialism. There is so much of hysteria going around that China and India are going to surpass US in the near future. It is said that Asia is emerging and West is declining. How much years would you think before the power in terms of economy, infrastructure, standard of life shifts from west to east?

Answer 1

end of U.S. in 30-40 yrs.

Answer 2

Every empire falls, so its only a matter of time when the U.S loses its superpower status. I think when the United States can longer finance its large debt or when the foreigners stop lending, than the East will start making large gains in power.

Answer 3

You preamble makes certain assumptions, and contains errors as well.

1.  You put the "East" on a pedestal, not mentioning that is is a wide assortment of disparate societies.  Eastern society is hardly one big monolithic and united culture.

2.  Last two centuries:  most of the technology we use today was invented in Europe or from cultures derived from Europe.  British explorers re-introduced the Chinese to the concepts of the water clock and printer, independently of their having been developed there previously.  Knowledge of these things was lost.

3.  China and India surpassing the US.  Well this is largely true, but the manufacturing and technology that now seems to emanate from Asia is still designed in the west, for the most part.  In all honesty, Asia can succeed here where the west is failing mainly because of a vast human resource, lax controls on, well, just about everything from safety to  intellectual property rights.

4.  Standard of living: Asia cannot support the standard of living that most of the west enjoys: most Chinese and Indians, for instance, will never know more than a subsistence existence, and this is not going to change.

5.  East richer than west:  By what terms? In terms of expression, freedoms, knowledge seeking, exploration and sciences, the west occupies a position that the East never did.  There was no great Eastern society that was so accomplished that "western imperialism" had to crush it because we felt threatened.  Sorry, that is a myth.  Sure, we were colonial.  The success the East sees today is a result of this, not in spite of this.  I do not see the word "imperialism" in a wholly negative light,  despite the modern tendency to do so

My answer is not PC, but I refuse to subscribe to the myth of the 'noble savage' or dwell on what might have been had Europe not been colonial.

Answer 4

The "East" will eventually plateau like everyone else. You have to specify in what areas China and India will "surpass" the US. You really are putting the East on a pedastal.

What will happen in a few decades is that Westerns, specifically American hegemony will decrease, and China will become a bigger player in the world. I don't believe the US will decline or fall because we're just a little too competitive.