"Superpower" in the American context is largely about our ability to project our military and economic power upon other societies, not about our ability to prov

"Superpower" in the American context is largely about our ability to project our military and economic power upon other societies, not about our ability to provide for the well-being of all Americans. You could even (cynically) look at it the other way, that part of our "superpower" is the projection upon the world of the disaffection and anger that we breed internally by not providing for the well-being of all our citizens (in ways far more severe than a dearth of N95 masks). You see that phenomenon much more clearly in dictatorships and autocracies, but to an extent it's here too.