In the 1800s, the sun never set on the British Empire, and the pound sterling was the world's reserve currency. Today, it is America and the dollar. Tomorrow, it may well be China and the yuan. As late as 1900, Britain was the world's military and economic superpower-the largest creditor nation in the world. The next 50 years proved fatal to its global dominion. Two costly world wars and the economic strain of maintaining an empire caused Britain to borrow heavily from its largest emerging global competitor-the United States. By the mid-1950s, Great Britain was a debtor nation-no longer in control of its currency-and the United State was the largest creditor nation in the world, destined to dominate world affairs for the remainder of the century. Currently, the United States finds itself in a position eerily reminiscent to that of Great Britain a century ago. Undoubtedly, the U.S. is the world's superpower, both militarily and economically. Yet, like England before it, America is becoming increasingly indebted to its largest global competitor (China) and is fighting a costly war with no end in sight. America's economic and foreign policies are making China's rise as the world's leading superpower increasingly likely. This is not news to most Americans. Americans sense that the United States faces a series of challenges to its position as the world's lone superpower. The problems are easy to identify. They are economic: the risks associated with America's budget and trade deficits, its runaway entitlement programs and its aging population. They include military threats from Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, energy and environmental problems. These challenges are easily spotted. They are even easier to demagogue (whether from the right or the left). Solutions, however, have been in short supply. The purpose of this book is to address the most pressing issues confronting the United States-including economic, foreign policy, environmental and energy issues-in one place. The unfolding economic crisis only serves to high-light the importance of an intelligently reasoned analysis and the urgent need for practical solutions we can implement immediately. Book jacket.