By TIFFANY RAZZANO
as part of the college's seventh annual Joseph F. Maher Leadership Forum. The focus of his talk was the changing global economy, as other countries around the world are seeing significant growth, and the evolving role of the United States' in this changing world.
Just read the newspapers, Zakaria says, and the front pages only tell tales of death and destruction. "It seems like things are going badly," he said. "It's difficult to get the feeling the world is in control. Then read the business section and you see the economy is just fine."
The economy is not just doing well for the United States though, he says, it's doing well around the world. Europe is growing, as are India and China. "We're spiraling downwards politically, but spiraling upwards economically," he said. Despite everything going on in the world today, the economy over the last six years has grown more than any other period over the last 45 years.
The global economy is seeing the rise of countries once considered to be third-world countries, such as South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, Chile and especially India and China. "With the collapse of communism came the rise of a new global economy," Zakaria said. "Now everyone is on the same playing field."
China and India are the two "monsters" he says, and the countries whose growth will have the greatest impact on the world. "It's the single dominant trend that will shape the future," he said.
"Four years ago the world did not think India would have a large cell phone industry," he said. "Today it's the largest growing industry in the world. They add two million phones per month and 25 million per year." The country's car industry is growing at 15 percent a year, compared to Germany and the United States' car industries growing at only .5 percent a year.
Meanwhile, China is seeing the fastest growth of any country in the history of the world, Zakaria says. China's economy is growing at roughly 10 percent a year, four times the growth of the United States economy.
The growth of a global economy will shift the balance of power, making it a more equal playing field as much of the rest of the world modernizes to catch up with America. The mistake the United States can make is by viewing the growth of other countries as negatively reflecting its own growth and place in the world. "But it's not about the American decline," Zakaria said. "Now it's about the rise of the rest of the world. It's not that America is doing badly, but everyone else is doing well. It should be a good story."
Zakaria says America's greatest advantage is its educational system, to which no other country comes close. The American system teaches people problem solving and also to think conceptually so that they can apply what they learn to real life situations. They also make people love learning, though Zakaria warns that if you make learning too much fun, you lose the educational component.
Going forward, as the nature of the world continues to change, the greatest challenge the United States will face is opening itself up to a world where most countries are modernized and have strong economies. "We assume we are unique," Zakaria said. "Washington lives in a bubble. It assumes it is island unto itself."
