IT'S A UNIPOLAR WORLD:

Even accounting for columnist and headline writer hyperbole, the notion of America as a failed state is kind of absurd. Where is America just a few months later? No rich country has spent a greater share of its economy on pandemic relief than the US. Pretty good numbers on vaccinations, too. Goldman Sachs notes that the share of the population having received a first shot stands at 59.9 percent in Israel, 41.2 percent in the UK, 24.9 percent in the US, 9.1 percent in Italy and France, and 9.0 percent in Spain and Germany. Looking ahead, plenty of big banks are looking for 5 percent to 7 percent real GDP growth this year and maybe another 3 percent to 4 percent next year. 

And don't forget: Last year was a pretty good one in terms of innovation. As I wrote around the same time as all those "failed state" pieces, 2020 was a year "when we witnessed -- among other things -- rapid vaccine innovation, good news about nuclear fusion, the AlphaFold breakthrough, a possible CRISPR-based gene-editing therapy for inherited blood disorders, AI as super research assistant, and a new age of human spaceflight for America. And there are actual driverless cars on the road. Definitely not a 'we have Twitter but no flying cars' sort of year."

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