Philobiblon

First, topically, financial:

The cost of insuring against default on 10-year US Treasuries jumped to an all-time high of 30 basis points yesterday, as measured by the credit default swaps (CDS) on the derivatives markets. Germany is at 13, and France is 20.

Second, intellectual and in public life:

… a diminishing number of foreign courts seem to pay attention to the writings of American justices.
“One of our great exports used to be constitutional law,” said Anne-Marie Slaughter, the dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton.

It is possible that the US may be the first country to almost consciously under-develop itself. (As evidence, consider thebroadening support for teen pregnancy. Women barefoot and pregnant (and under-educated) in the kitchen – surely the way to advance a society…)