HONG KONG — Supporters of U.S. President Barack Obama are greatly cheered by notable victories in the final days of Congress before Christmas: the repeal of the "Don't ask, don't tell" law concerning homosexuals serving in the military, and the ratification of the New START treaty with Russia to curb nuclear weapons.

The problem is that these "victories" were enabled by the compromise to extend the Bush-era tax cuts to all taxpayers — a clear economic defeat saddling the government with another $900 billion that it cannot afford.

Many economists and probably a majority of American business executives say the United States is so economically and technologically superior that there is no way that China or any other country can push it from the top position in any of our lifetimes.