What's right with this picture?

■"Fewer Doughnuts, More Dunkin: Beverages Increasingly Drive Chain's Sales; Franchises Team Up to Build Off-Site Bakeries," by Dina ElBoghdady, Washington Post, 8 June 2005, p. D1.

I know, I know. Living in RI all these years and blogging well over a year and I've not written anything about what is arguably the corporate image that defines little Rhody: Dunkin' Doughnuts.

Well, now that I'm on my way out the door, let me correct that oversight.

First, I will say that Dunkin' Doughnuts areówithout argumentóthe worst doughnuts on the planet. Even more amazing to me, the other half of their claim (dunking part) is equally badóthe coffee (amazingly junked up beyond all ability to actually taste the coffee).

But Rhodies love 'em. We have three, I believe, on the island and they all do big business. Simply put, crap sells here.

Now that I have that off my chest, let me cite the real reason why I blog this piece: the picture of the 8 franchise owners who have formed a production alliance. The interesting thing about this picture, taken as it was in Northern VA, is that all of the owners are clearly Indian: four Patel's (who apparently own doughnut stores now in addition to their vast holdings in motels; no kidding, check it out next time you check in!), one Javia, and three Bhalani's. Far more amazing: only one has a gut of any heft.

Of course, the archetype of the Indian who owns the franchise is the character on "The Simpsons" who owns a 7/11-like store. But Indians, when they're not being docs or working for Microsoft, are hustling entrepreneurs who work a day longer than I can stay awake (Friedman likes to call it the "35-hour work day" that Indians naturally aspire toward).

I remember a Post of a while back talking about how DC-area Indians in the IT sector were banding together to form a Political Action Committee to pool their growing political weight. Judging by this picture, a doughnut PAC would probably feature a lot of Indians as well.

Of course, the story starts with a bit about a Rhode Island native who remembers pressing his nose to the glass of his local DD as a kid. He now owns several in the DC-area. His name is Andy Cabral, and I'm betting he's Portuguese. We have both types of people in Rhode Island: Irish and Portuguese. So it's an easy call on my part.

Elsewhere, though, the melting pot clearly has a wider array of inputs.

Day of daddying

Dateline: above the sold garage, 9 June 2005

One kid to eye doc, then pick up my author photos CD, then Father's Day lunch at grade school, and then 660 catches with a baseball with eldest son over lunch recess (our new record). Then babysitting and cleaning for friend Henrik Breitenbauch from Denmark (my host during end of Jan trip there) stopping by with a State-side friend. We are ready with nice desserts, coffee, etc. Easy when you have such a masterful baker as your spouse. Very nice to see Henrik again; I like his mind so much I want to get so busy I have to hire him someday once his PhD is done; he's my Danish clone. Fun to give him a paperback and map to take back.

Rest of day lost to kids and dinner, as spouse hits the Newport Film Festival.

That she will definitely miss in Indyóunless they have one there of course.

I confess to liking the process of working out of my home more and more. Either I'm home and it's like Xmas vacation: always lots of stuff to catch up on but I waste a lot of time with kids instead. Or I'm on the road in hyperdrive and hyper creativity and stimulation. Just cut out the nasty bit called the day job.

Long talk with builder today. We are zeroing in on the final details of the design. I am amazed at the house we're getting at the price we're paying. This house easily tops a much bigger figure out here--in right location costing probably two times as much out here. Stunning when you think of it. But that's the joy of willingness to travel to clients. Live in the house you want, where you want.

I am feeling more upbeat about this move all the time. At least until the first POD shows up and and I realize the packing ahead. Still, I like that challenge as well: physical plus mental.

Here's the daily catch:

■ The schizo on China: let the recriminations begin

■ Africa and the lack of a fear factor

■ The reality on China: the connectivity is already deep

■ Cheap airfares: a great sign of connectivity

■ Seoul brother can't see the dictator for the dead

■ Prahalad on outsourcing

■ A glimpse at the World Bank

■ Here comes the sun

Africa and the lack of a fear factor

■"Africa's Problems Move to Top of Global Agenda: Blair Seeks Debt Relief, Aid, But Bush Is More Cautious; Slow Change in Mozambique," by Roger Thurow, Wall Street Journal , 9 June 2005, p. A1.

■"Reformers in Saudi Arabia: Seeking Rights, Paying a Price," by Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, 9 June 2005, pulled off web cause dog ate paper.

Good WSJ piece on how Blair is rehabilitating his global rep by getting off the Middle East (and Iraq) and focusing on Africa. Worthy goal pursued by easily the smartest and most talented politician working the global stage today, so I won't argue with his choice.

But the reality is this: fear will bring the U.S. to Africa, like the growing hype on China "infiltrating" the continent, building roads and what not; or the notion that we desperately need African resources so we can wean ourselves off the Middle East. Fear, my friends. That's what it will take.

Meanwhile, there is plenty left to be done in the Middle East to follow through on the Big Bang. We have started quite the party, and now people are putting their lives on the line to push the pile. Do we stick it out, or pull back?

The faster we transform the Middle East, the faster we get to Africa for realónot just forgiving debt but keeping the peace and stopping the genocide.

The schizo on China: let the recriminations begin

■"Analysts missed Chinese buildup," by Bill Geertz, Washington Times, 9 June 2005, sent by reader Matt Valkovic.

■"How's China to Make Sense of U.S. Signals?," by David Wessel, Wall Street Journal, 9 June 2005, p. A2.

■"Arms Fiascoes Lead to Alarm Inside Pentagon," by Tim Weiner, New York Times, 8 June 2005, p. A1.

The Geertz piece is just too weird for words. Not for Geertz, who is typically breathless, but whoever spoon-fed him this nonsense: the great scandal by which a host of Chinese military developments were "missed" by a team of analystsóor actually who buried them by "playing down or dismissing evidence."

This "discovery" of such scandalous (even treacherous?) behavior by these obvious pinkos apparently comes out with the latest Pentagon report on Chinese military capabilities, which, as we know, is totally authoritative because . . . uh . . the Pentagon knows everything!

Geertz gives us the list of "missed developments," none of which is new news to anyone familiar with Chinese military developments of the past few years. I've seen descriptions of these developments in plenty of briefs over the past several years.

Apparently this report about the report speaks of "surprise" repeatedlyó12 times in fact!

Apparently, all these "new" "missed" "surprises" are in the latest Pentagon presentation to Congress on China's military buildup.

Say, isn't it interesting that all these "new" "missed" "surprises" are appearing right now, as the big-ticket weapons and platforms that are really designed for high-end war against a "near-peer competitor" are coming under greater budgetary scrutiny and facing likely cuts in coming years, as indicated in the projections of the FY06 budget sent to the Hill this year?

Apparently, we were all kept in the dark by this small "close-knit" (dare I say, cabal?) of China experts in the U.S. Government who purposely buried these developments out of their affection for China.

This article is complete bullshit, but a clear sign that the demonization of China by the Big War crowd in the Pentagon is gearing up big time. Programs of record to protect, my friends, so if it gets a bit messy in the process, then so be it. Cold Warriors don't die, and they don't fade away. They just hide until their programs are about to get cut and then they goówhat elseónuclear on the truth.

You want to see something truly well-reasoned on China and our schizo treatment of it, then read David Wessel in the WSJ. This guy's got a big brain, whereas Geertz is truly on tube feeding.

If Geertz wants to report on something truly scandalous, he should be working the Pentagon the way Tim Weiner does. Weiner tried to reach me on this piece a couple of weeks ago, but we never connected. I didn't really have anything to tell him on the piece, though, since I'm far more familiar with the threat definition and intell stuff than I am on the acquisition and testing stuff. Another brilliant piece by Weiner. I told him I was happy to speak with him because I respect his work so much.

Cheap airfares: a great sign of connectivity

■"Discount Airlines Hit Latin America: As Travelers Flock to Region, Cheap Options Proliferate; Rio to Sao Paolo: $18," by Amy Chozick, Wall Street Journal, 8 June 2005, p. D1.

We've seen this already arise in India and increasingly in China, where airports were packed everywhere we traveled last yearóand I mean every damn seat!

Now we see the article on the New Core states in Latin America.

When you have the context, the newspaper seems less the daily revelation and more the daily confirmation.

Hey, it ain't rocket science.

The reality on China: the connectivity is already deep

■"The Laptop Trail: The Modern PC Is a Model Of Hyperefficient Production And Geopolitical Sensitivities," by Jason Dean and Pui-Wing Tam, Wall Street Journal, 9 June 2005, p. B1.

■"China Tightens Restrictions On Bloggers and Web Owners: Nervousness about the power of the Net being in private hands," by Howard W. French, New York Times, 8 June 2005, p. A9.

■"China Weighs Limits on Foreign-Made Cartoons," by Geoffrey A. Fowler, Wall Street Journal, 8 June 2005, p. B3.

■"A Migrant Worker Sees Rural Home In a New Light: In China, Those Who Left Find City, Village Life Don't Mix; Showing Off Cellphones," by Leslie T. Chang, Wall Street Journal, 9 June 2005, p. A1.

Great WSJ piece on the global laptop that shows not just how integrated Taiwan is becoming with China, but how integrated China is becoming with the world. Dell, Apple, Gateway, Acer and HP: the outsourcing ratio for all is 100%.

My God, and we let IBM sell its PC production unit to China's Lenovo? Another "missed development" perhaps!

Meanwhile, China pushes harder to control the burgeoning web use of its people, roughly a hundred million strong and rapidly growing. Four million bloggers, we are told. And now the government wants them all to register, claiming a success rate of 75% already.

Say what you want on the web. Just don't criticize the Party.

Yes, yes, I would say the Commies are right on top of this one. Right out of 1984, when Winston Smith blogged away for the world to see.

No, wait a minute. Didn't his journal get hidden each day in a hole in his wall?

Okay, so it's almost just like "1984." Almost.

Now the party is floating pro-government propagandists in online communities and chat rooms to sing the praises of the government. I can see that working so much better in a virtual environment than a real one.

Meanwhile, the connectivity grows . . .

China wants to limit the amount of foreign cartoons on its TV networks. Fear of foreign ideas? No. China wants to protect and grow its nascent animation industry. It sees Japan's huge anime exports and Disney's long track record and wants to get some of that global pie for itself.

So China the government pretends it can control this huge amount of development by simply censoring what the masses say about it behind its back. But what's happening here is so much bigger than just politics. China's experiencing the biggest migration in human history: from the rural areas to the city. And once you leave the little town and see the big city, there's no going backófor anyone.

A glimpse at the World Bank

■"World Bank's Loan Rangers: In the Global Village on Pennsylvania Avenue, Interest in Fighting Poverty Is Compounded Daily," by Ann Gerhart, Washington Post, 9 June 2005, p. C1.

Interesting piece. I have found WB people to be pretty much as described here: smart, a bit weird, very passionate about their work, and basically a force for good in the world. Efficient? No. But they help more than hurt.

I know, I know. White man's burden and all. And the place is full of egg heads. But in a world full of international organizations that should simply die away from lack of success or relevancy, the World Bank is a place worth salvaging.

Very accurate piece and a good primer on how the bank works.

Prahalad on outsourcing

■"The Art of Outsourcing: We are not exporting jobs, but importing competitiveness," op-ed by C.K. Prahalad, Wall Street Journal, 8 June 2005, p. A14.

Great piece by a very smart guy. To outsource is to tap cheaper inputsópure and simple. Dress it up all you like, but unless you plan on beating China and India on that "flat world" that Friedman's talking about using higher cost labor and resources wherever possible, thus "saving American jobs," you best go with economic logic on this one.

Trade ain't about saving jobs, but about getting better ones over time by moving up the production ladder.

Ah, but the romance of the past is always hard to give up. Everyone wants to do what their parents did, right?

Seoul brother can't see the dictator for the dead

■"Dancing With the Dictator," op-ed by Jasper Becker, New York Times, 9 June 2005, pulled from web cause dog ate paper. A1.

Great op-ed. Brilliant really, in the British meaning of the word.

I excerpt the best:

Since South Korea's president at the time, Kim Dae Jung, met with North Korea's Kim Jong Il in 2000 (and pocketed a Nobel Peace Price for his efforts), Seoul has gone to remarkable lengths to gain the North's trust. Unsurprisingly, the only real changes under this Sunshine Policy have occurred in South Korea. And efforts by President Roh, who was elected in 2002, to engage Kim Jong Il have led him to plunge his own nation into North Korea's world of lies.

For example, Seoul no longer sees any evidence of North Korea's crimes: the government tries to keep South Korean newscasts from showing a smuggled tape of the public execution of "criminals" by the North that has been broadcast in Japan and elsewhere; reports that China is shipping refugees back to North Korea are denied by the Roh government; the North's testing of chemical weapons on live prisoners goes largely unmentioned; and even Pyongyang's apparent preparations for nuclear weapons tests are played down Ö

Many of those pushing the Sunshine Policy came of age while trying to force South Korea's postwar dictators to step down; they believe that the North can follow their model, in which economic gains paved the way for democracy. But forcing North Koreans to remain under Kim Jong Il's rule and hoping that he will make gradual reforms is unlikely to bear fruit.

North Korea undertook some economic changes in 2002, but they actually left the people worse off. A United Nations World Food Program report last month noted that the market price of rice in North Korea has nearly tripled and that of maize has quadrupled in the last year . . .

Kim Jon Il has conned the South's big businesses as well as its government, luring them in with offers of exclusive concessions. For example, in 2000 the automaker Hyundai gave the North $500 million . . . Hyundai has yet to realize any profit from the deal and its chairman, who faced criminal charges stemming from his dealings with the North, killed himself in 2003.

Why does Seoul pay so dearly to prop up the criminal regime? It has claimed that if North Korea were to collapse, it would cost $1.7 trillion to rebuild it . . . But this figure seems preposterous. Given its population of about 23 million people, the North would need an emergency influx of only about $1 billion a year to pay for food, medicines and fuel until it got back on its feet. South Korea, with its trillion-dollar gross domestic product, could easily afford this Ö.

But beyond the economic factors, we must consider the moral ones. South Korea is seeking to keep a tyrant in power against the wishes of his own people Ö

Rather than coddling Kim Jong Il and paying him nuclear blackmail, we should b be working to arraign him before an international criminal tribunal, just as we did the murdering leaders of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Becker's book is called Rogue Regime: Kim Jong Il and the Looming Theat of North Korea.

No, my friend, not the looming threat. The looming opportunity.

But rest assured, you wonít hear of any "missed developments" in our intell here. No, no. The Pentagon loses North Korea and the two major-theater-wars construct, built originally around Iraq and North Korea, evaporates.

Then all we'd have left is China for the threat. And if China helped us topple Kim and on that basis entered in strategic understanding with the U.S. on East Asia, then where would all our Big War budget items go?

We'd be stuck doing a whole lot of SysAdmin work and not enough else!

Sounds like a future worth creating . . .

Here comes the sun

■"Hispanics now one-seventh of U.S. population: Census Bureau estimates 41.3 million in fastest-growing ethnic bloc," by Associated Press, MSNBC.com, 9 June 2005, pulled from web.

■"Hispanic Growth Surge Fueled by Births in U.S.," by D'Verea Cohn, Washington Post, 9 June 2005, p. A1.

Two of what will ultimately become the giant flood of pieces decrying/noticing/warning about the rising Latinization of these United States.

People are waking up to this reality, as are the experts and the companies and the networks and anyone with a brain and two eyes.

One in five kids under 18 is now Hispanic. Run the model. Votes, my friends, votes. NASCAR wants them. The NFL wants them. The Dems assume they're theirs, and the Republicans assume they're easily "stolen." Everyone wants them eventually. That's how the market works.

50 members and counting, say I.

Ah yes, the Jewish Holocaust book I forgot I wrote . . .

Dateline: above the sold garage in Portsmouth RI, 9 June 2005

1988 was such a weird year for me. I mean, have you ever had the feeling of waking up and realizing you co-wrote a book in your dreams . . . except it was true!

On Amazon that is. . .

Read it and weep here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0525246029/qid=1118364750/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/002-1469706-0736041?v=glance&s=books.

At first, I thought is was about . . . you know . . . burning Bush in effigy or something!

Soldiers' Families Say Goodbye

My nephew Michael is a very special young man.

http://www.wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=3444613&nav=KoJDalkD

Mike's tour will be the third one in the theater for the three fine boys of Andy (my brother; ace regional librarian in WI and author of an amazing book on libraries and the Internet entitled "Libraries, Community, and Technology," his site is found at www.geocities.com/onelibrarian.geo/) and his spouse of many years, Laura (also amazing; she now serves as principal to a Catholic school system). Middle son Dan did two for the Navy. Mike will be joined by my godson and the oldest of the trio, Jonathan, shortly. Mike and John are Wisconsin National Guard, considered one of the best in the union in terms of their training and readiness. I am not surprised by this. Going all the way back to the Civil War, Wisconsin has had this reputation.

"No major wars - this is the definition of a happy ending. America was losing to win."

Dateline: same place; can't feel my ass. Baby deeply asleep.

Title was apparently a quote I gave or a statement I made at The New Map Game. Go here (http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/04/war04.xml) to read Alec Russell's story on the game entitled, "War game gives Washington a lesson in power" in the Daily Telegraph. He has a really neat style of writing. Very clean but very direct. He put in the effort at the game, which I admired, so he earned the story, and it's a solid capture of the tone.

Blog quoting: should I copyright?

Dateline: baby's starting to give me a cramp all right! A few minutes later

This guy quotes the blog for a story on CAFTA. Find it at www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_1573.shtml

Question?

Should I put copyrights on blog (already decided to on newsletter)? Would it make a difference one way or the other?

Feel like this guy should do more that pretend to interview me and lift verbiage from my blog like this.

Then again, nice to be quoted, even in disagreement.

Just thinking. . .

An opinion that matters to me

Dateline: above the sold garage in Portsmouth, beautiful child sleeping on my chest, 8 June 2005

Got a nice email from Greg Jaffe of the Wall Street Journal saying he liked my profile of Donald Rumsfeld in the new issue of Esquire. He said he learned a new thing or two about the guy he's been trailing for five years, which is a high compliment from anyone as observant and gifted a journalist as Greg (Pulitzer winner, he).

That made my day.

Baby nice too.

Tough slog, but jobs done

Dateline: SWA flight from BWI to PVD, 8 June 2005

Finished late yesterday and drove into the night to Carlisle PA. Got on base at the Army War College and slept in the historic Washington Hall, so named for a certain US Army officer who led two expeditions in the French and Indian War from that location. I had this huge suite, with 15-foot ceilings all around. I had stayed there once for two weeks during a CPX, command post exercise, where the players at Carlisle pretended to be the national command authorities to the Pacific Command's actual leadership out in Hawaii. Kinda sucked, a Honolulu wargame lasting two weeks and I spend it all inside windowless rooms in a gaming facility in PA. Still, the hot wash following the game was in Honolulu and that lasted a week as we wrote up our report. Got a lot of great hiking in both times I did this.

Gave a 1:45 version of the brief today at the Army War College's big end-of-the-year symposium where all sorts of public and private VIPs are invited to join the student body in receiving a host of big talks. Great theater and great audience. Great Q&A after. I did a short 15 minutes in one seminar following, as a thanks to host Col. Al Stolberg.

Then a mad dash from Carlisle to BWI, catching my plane.

Here's the daily catch:

■ Harvard & Wisconsin: a toss up

■ The retrenchment in Russia is real, but not unexpected

■ Globalization: a very good thing for the average American pocketbook

■ Security leads the way in rule-set creation after 9/11

■ SysAdmin work is tough on marriages

The retrenchment in Russia is real, but not unexpected

■"The Rollback of Democracy In Vladimir Putin's Russia: Tenure Marked by Consolidation of Power," by Peter Baker and Susan B. Glasser, Washington Post, 7 June 2005, p. A1.

Excerpt from book this is.

I'm sure the book is good because both of the journalists are good. My problem with the thesis is this: Russia never had a democracy in the 1990s. It had chaos and thievery and gangland violence.

Now it has order, and the economic growth is slower. Still no democracy.

But don't kid yourselves on the slippage. It was too much freedom too fast. Putin's retrenchment is Tiananmen without the demonstrations and the slaughter.

Harvard & Wisconsin: a toss up

■"Does Harvard 'brand' matter anymore? 1980 grads reflect on what they learned," by Greg Farrell, USA Today, 7 June 2005, p. 1B .

It's called the ultimate brand: the degree from Harvard. But not all are equal. To be the classic "Harvard man," you had to go there for an undergraduate degree (there were no "Harvard women" for the first three centuries or so; they went to Radcliffe).

I was never a Harvard man, but I got two graduate degrees there: one in Soviet studies (now called Russia, East European and Central Asian studies, and yes, I did take all those classes too), and the PhD in political science from the Government Department (major international relations; minor comparative politics). I went to the "real" Gov department in Arts and Sciences, not the Kennedy School, which was a separate trade school outside of the graduate school system, like the med and biz schools.

I barely got into the Soviet Studies program at the Russian Research Center, as I was the last selectee in the group of 12. Big key: secretary to director was Wisconsin-born, and she thought it would be great to have someone from there (not too common). I had gotten Phi Beta Kappa as a Junior (one of 3 selected in a class of 5,000), so I was certainly no slouch. That's just how tight the competition was then. I had been accepted at Yale as well, as was offered more money, but took Harvard because of the Sox, Celtics and Bruins. Plus I really wanted to work for Adam Ulam.

After year one, I was one of two selected as the top students of the 12, getting a special fellowship. At that point, the Director's secretary had determined I had the right personality to serve as Ulam's personal research assistant, a job I held longer than just about anyone at five years. He taught me how to play tennis, drink Scotch and love the Soxóin that order. Amazingly, we discussed everything under the sun except the Soviet Union. Adam was a dear friend and mentor who passed a few years back, the first of my father figures to go.

At that time, the Government department had an unofficial quota of regional studies students that they let into the PhD program each year. Of the 12, about 8 wanted in. I got in thanks to Adam's personal pull and my record. The other was Alison Stanger, who went on to academia, I believe.

At the Government department, I came in with the class that included Andrew Sullivan, Fareed Zakaria and Mark Medish, who later was one of Bob Rubin's whiz kids at Treasury. I took a year of classes, passed my comps at the end (instead of the usual two years of classes; my AM gave me advance standing). Then a year to learn just enough Romanian and German to read while I figured out my PhD topic. Then a year to research it and one to write it. The only other of my original class who got out that fast was Sullivan, who had advance standing from his Oxford degree.

When I look back on Harvard, it was a tough place on your ego, but you can't beat the quality of the profs, like Huntington, Hoffman, Sandel, Shklar, Ulam, Pipes, Nye and on and on.

Did it make a difference in my career? Mostly in that people expected big things from me, and that expectation gave me more leeway to be bold.

Interesting fact: until recently Harvard grads accounted for biggest number of Fortune 500 CEOs, until recently being overtaken by Wisconsin.

I got my undergrad from Wisconsin (double major in Russian and American foreign policy.

Also got my wife thereóthe best part.

Security leads the way in rule-set creation after 9/11

■"Traveler's card might just pave the way for a national ID card," op-ed by Randall Larsen, USA Today, 8 June 2005, p. 13A.

Of course, we already have a national ID card of sorts: our passports. I love using mine as ID. I feel like I'm in a WWII movie and producing "your papers please."

Security leads new rule set creation. We may get the national ID de facto through the ID for travelers (give up a little privacy, go through security fasterólike most deals in life).

The push to share information across the Intelligence Community's 15 agencies may revolutionize data sharing in the entire US government. But of course, getting better at tracking terrorists can translate into getting better at tracking you and me too. Again, trade some privacy for more convenience and security. Wouldn't it be cool to send a change of address to the PO and have them change it for you throughout all your federal records? Again, security leads the way.

Just like in US government personnel, where Rumsfeld's National Security Personal System will revolutionize federal employment first in the Defense Department, probably spreading to the entire government over time. It's a performance-based system, not a longevity-based one. Expect better service all around from your government if it happens, but also expect a U.S. military better able to muster the SysAdmin response. Again, security leads the way on change, because when security is involved, people in the USG are willing to be more daring and innovative in reforms.

It's not just Tang my friends.

Globalization: a very good thing for the average American pocketbook

■"The Payoff From Globalization," op-ed by Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Paul L.E. Grieco, Washington Post, 7 June 2005, p. A23.

Great article on research conducted by two serious scholars. Hufbauer came to my Foreign Direct Investment game atop the World Trade Center and blurbed my book. There is no one smarter on FDI in the world. Really cool guy too.

His research with Grieco estimates that globalization of the U.S. economy accounts for roughly 1 trillion dollars out of our 10 trillion dollar economy, or roughly $10,000 per family per year. Obviously, some families get more, like mine for being an expert on globalization, but the numbers sound about right to me.

You may say, that's only 10%, but you'd be forgetting what a gigantic economy we have. We get to command much from the world and suffer its slings and arrows with great aplomb, thanks to our enormous domestic market. Plus we have the biggest gun. Hard to beat that combo.

But as Spiderman's uncle says, With great power comes great responsibility.