Fareed Zakaria writes in “The Post-American world than our global shift is not about the decline of the United States but about the rise of the rest of the world.

Most of the industrialized world has better cell phone and broadband access than we do. For the last 30 years America had the lowest corporate tax rates; today it has the second highest. Our rates did not go up; the others came down.

London’s financial markets are now attracting more business from New York as our regulations go up and theirs come down. In 2005 24 of the largest 25 IPO’s were held in countries outside the United States.

We can no longer pass industrial policy and tax policy as if the rest of the world does not exist. Capital flows freely across borders and it is getting welcomed heartily elsewhere.

Those on the left who think taxes are a matter of fairness and justice should take note. We need jobs and growth to work our way out of the deficit and the rules are no longer ours to set.

Actually we did set the rules of growth and capitalism and the rest of the world learned them well, and are now competing with us under the game we designed.

Changing the rules is no longer an option. We no longer control the game.

print