Call it the Sputnik Syndrome.
Ever since the launching of Sputnik in October 1957, Americans have feared that their economy, which at the end of World War II dominated the globe, would be overtaken by some other country. First was the Soviet Union. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev promised to "bury" us economically. When that didn't happen, we worried that Japan would crush one U.S. industry after another — steel, automobiles, machine tools, semiconductors and supercomputers.
Now, it's China's turn. Or so it seems.