I failed to impress Lee Kuan Yew when we met for the first time a decade ago. It was in December 2004 in Bangkok and he was giving a speech arguing that rumors of America's decline were premature.
"America," he declared, was "the most dynamic economy in the world" and would be for many years to come.
Afterward, when I asked the founder of Singapore if he was too bullish on the United States given the rise of China, he rolled his eyes.