Is the measure of a market really about?

Question

how the American market does compared to other countries' markets?

Not the economy of how laborers are able to make a living, but the Power a country has from a market that gets "ahead" of other countries?

And a market, like a company business, can be RUNNING REALLY WELL but still be deep in debt at the same time?

Answer 1

I hope I understand your question as you intended.

Since sometime in the 1930s when it overtook Britain, America has been the largest market (by absolute value) for imports of goods-and-services in the world. Also it has been a relatively 'free' market to sell imports into, i.e. quotas, tariffs, regulations and other barriers, though present, have not been as fierce on the whole as elsewhere. This has meant that when you look at other countries' export stats, nearly all of them have the US as their #1 export destination, especially for manufactured goods. The result of that fact is that America is more important to most of those countries than they are to America. So America has been able to call the shots in the international economic organisations like the World Bank and the IMF.

America is also #1 in absolute GNP and this is essential for it to keep up its role as #1 in military might without crippling its people (about 6% of GNP is spent on war and readiness for war, cp about 20% in the old Soviet Union). Just as in the 19th century Britain was the "workshop of the world", peaked at maybe as much as half of the whole world's GNP in about 1855, and was able to rule nations ten times its size as a result. If America (gradually) cut this military spending back by half and stopped interfering in the Middle East its people would be even richer than they are now, and would suffer less too.

America was naturally destined to be the largest market because of its population size, enterprise culture, and open capitalist economy. By the end of this century I expect it to be an Indo-Sinocentric world economy and America will have got used to being a partner rather than top dog. India will be top nation in 2100 if they overcome the Muslim/Hindu barrier and reunite with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

If a country just uses its economic success to throw its power around and bully others, the karma will catch up with it and like Alexander (the so-called Great) and Hitler its empire will collapse after a short time. See USSR in the history books too. But if it uses its power for good, as the EU seems to be doing these past 50 years, and as hopefully India is starting to now, both its own citizens and the world at large will benefit.

The answer on debt is 'yes', provided that lenders are happy to go on lending.