>>>The author is an American - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalmers_Johnson. Unless, of course, you think I am jealous of your country? In which case I am not. I think the US have done, and are doing, amazing things. But so are other countries. I think the US are doing some things wrong. But so are other countries. But the US tends to have a significant influence on the world, directly and indirectly and for good and bad, and hence is a focus of attention to many other countries and the people of those countries.
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>>You make my point. I'm not saying we're perfect, we just happen to be at the top of the pile. I didn't have anything to do with that, and only by sheer luck was I born here. I am just thankful every day that it happened that way. I think we have a duty to the rest of the world to try to make things better, not worse, but that would be a whole other thread.
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>I would agree the US is at the top of the military-power "pile". But when it comes to measures like Nobel prize winners it is more or less evenly split between the US and Europe for pole position. For the standard-of-living "pile" I think there are a number of European countries that could be argued as #1. For the debt pile the US is #1.

Are you sure about debt?