| Fareed Zakaria's column starts off bleak. He sees economic "structural weaknesses and fragilities" just about everywhere. China: wobbling. Germany: sclerotic. Japan: slo-mo. Britain: Brexitized. Then, not so bleak — "the unmistakable winner of the past decade," he says, is the United States. The country "recovered steadily from the 2008 crisis and never looked back — even accounting for the pandemic-induced recession." The good stuff is legion, including a 25 percent U.S. share of global GDP, 7 of the top 10 companies in world by market capitalization, the U.S. dollar's being used in 90 percent of international transactions and "the healthiest demographics of any of the world's five biggest economies, thanks to immigration." A Gallup poll this summer found that 59 percent of Americans describe their lives in a way that the pollster describes as "thriving" — the highest percentage in 13 years. Too bad Washington is a distortion field where good feelings go to curdle. "America's weakness is its politics," Zakaria says. Let's not go over the gruesome particulars here. "America has been dealt the world's best hand by far," he says. "As any poker player knows, though, if you play badly, you can still lose everything."  (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) America's weakness is its political system. By Fareed Zakaria ● Read more » | | | | The agency's officers and local partners were among the last out of Kabul, working undercover to evacuate as many Americans and Afghans as possible. By David Ignatius ● Read more » | | | | Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was a choice — one that he made against the advice of his military commanders. By Marc A. Thiessen ● Read more » | | | | If Biden can't wrangle enough members of his party to deliver on popular initiatives, it undercuts a huge selling point for the president. By Helaine Olen ● Read more » | | | They have chickened out on many of the tax increases Biden proposed, meaning it will be even more difficult to get this bill fully paid for. By Catherine Rampell ● Read more » | | | | Nobody said passing big, important legislation was going to be easy, or pleasant to watch. By Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent ● Read more » | | | | Ambition is good. Outsize ambition confuses the public and muddies the message. By Michael Gerson ● Read more » | | | | If you're one of the millions of Americans counting on everyone else to get vaccinated, stop free-riding. By Eugene Robinson ● Read more » | | | China's continuing lack of transparency on the pandemic poses grave risks to the health of visitors. By Josh Rogin ● Read more » | | | | It might feel like a new phenomenon for the U.S. streets, but U.S. college campuses have long played host to some of the most pervasive antisemitism. By Kenneth L. Marcus ● Read more » | | | |
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