While I agree that there's no question that America's ability to field a military second to none depends on our economic fundamentals, the position of "superpower" seems to me a bit more complex.

Pleas for a greater Western commitment to tackling developing-country problems ring hollow whengovernments of poor countries maintain taxesthatensure poor people die needlessly.

Gordon Brown says he wants to write off all British debt to Africa. Perhaps, as a quid pro quo, he can get African nations to remove financial barriers that harm their poorest.

Pleas for a greater Western helpring hollow when the governments of poor countries maintain taxes and bureaucracies that frustrate healthcare andcausetheir own citizens to die needlessly.

The campaign to bring low-priced drugs to HIV/AIDS sufferers in poor countries has met unexpected resistance.

If we are to have the kind of comprehensive government-guaranteed health care that Barack Obama and Tom Daschle want, we will need to open ourselves to the international market in medical services.

At the start of the year, Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve Board Chairman who is not known for being an alarmist, issued an ominous warning.

The Obama adminstration's decision to move forward with the Korea free trade agreement represents a sharp break from a deliberately ambiguous trade policy and may mark a welcome return to U.S. trade leadership if the administration can overcome political obstacles to see it through.