The chant “USA! USA!” has been popular since our ice hockey team won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics. “We’re No. 1” is often added.
We have been No. 1 industrially for the last 100 years — helped by escaping the devastation that Europe, Russia, China and Japan suffered in two world wars. In many areas we are still No. 1. But that’s not always a positive. For example:
* GNP. We still lead China. But only because many things (especially services) cost much more here. A better comparison might be exports, where China leads by almost 30% and Germany is not far behind the USA.