America is still in the race

MANY analysts have written about America's relative decline - relative to the large Asian economies, in particular the Chinese economy. No matter which measure of gross domestic product (GDP) is used, the gap between the United States and China has been narrowing over the last few decades.

On Dec 19, China's National Bureau of Statistics reworked the size of the country's national output, increasing it by 3.4 per cent. The Chinese GDP, at the prevailing rate of exchange, now stands at US$9.6 trillion. The increase was smaller than expected by several China-wat…