Although the world still seems to agree that when America sneezes, the rest of the world, well, sniffles, it is the image of America as a big lumbering giant who can’t help inflicting wounds on itself that appears to be dominating this year’s conference at Davos. Not that I’m there or anything (not this year) but the International Herald Tribune (which, for once, is beginning to look quite attractive on-line) has lots of details and snarky comments from the global concern trolls who are really, really broken up about what we’ve done to ourselves.

Could it really be, as economist pundit C. Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute is quoted as saying, that this time around it will not so much be America dragging down the economies of emerging powerhouses like India and China, but their buoyancy keeping America afloat?

Read the embarrassing details. .

To see where a candidate stands on the issues, visit Issue 2008