For two centuries Europe and America dominated global output, manufactured and exported the majority of the world’s goods and invested and consumed far more than the rest of the world combined. Now in 2010 the US and the European Union are being out-produced, out-manufactured, out-traded and out-invested by the rest of the world – but not out-consumed. All the individual dramas of the last three years – the subprime mortgage disaster, Lehman’s collapse, Greek deficits, and Irish bankruptcies – can highlight, but should not obscure, these global economic shifts that now threaten the west. The danger for America and Europe is years of low growth and high unemployment.
兩個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)，歐洲和美國(guó)一直在全球產(chǎn)出中占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位，制造并出口了世界上絕大多數(shù)的商品，投資和消費(fèi)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)世界其它地區(qū)的總和。今天，在2010年，美國(guó)和歐盟(EU)正在生產(chǎn)、制造、貿(mào)易和投資等領(lǐng)域被世界其它地區(qū)所超越——但消費(fèi)卻沒(méi)有被超越。過(guò)去三年爆發(fā)的一起起戲劇性事件，如次貸災(zāi)難、雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)倒閉、希臘赤字和愛(ài)爾蘭破產(chǎn)，可以突顯出（但不應(yīng)該掩蓋）上述威脅著西方的全球經(jīng)濟(jì)轉(zhuǎn)變。美國(guó)和歐洲面臨的危險(xiǎn)是，將出現(xiàn)持續(xù)多年的低增長(zhǎng)和高失業(yè)。