I'm old enough to remember when Japan was gonna take over the whole world. They did great, by the by, but hit some real cultural problems and stalled. Still d

I'm old enough to remember when Japan was gonna take over the whole world. They did great, by the by, but hit some real cultural problems and stalled. Still doing fine, but definitely plateaued. I'd expect China to do something like that, although I question whether their totalitarian state is going to be able to hold together if growth peters out. When a bad year is 4% growth, people are remarkably tolerant of the government doing whatever. In lean years, not so much. And honestly, as bitchy and entitled as the American middle class is, they're the folks that demand progress and reform. Lacking a group of people with that level on initiative I think would be self-limiting in terms of what you could get out of your economy. They need to move up the value chain to keep going, and the kinds of people that do that are kind of pushy as a rule.