Who will lead the world Economy in future ??

In the past, I see that the whole world economy was divided into 4. The US, USSR, EU (spectators) and the others. The whole economy relayed on the US, mainly because of the Currency and its equation to gold. As the time went by, there was and are changes to this system. "Falling of the USSR" being one of the main event.

With the current schema of things I feel the world economy will be led by 5 forces. Namely

a) The US
b) The EU.
c) The Gulf countries of Asia
d) the Underdogs (BRIC + S. Korea)
e) The Others.

The US has been seen in the big picture ever since it entered into World War 1. By making rules of the game which would suit them more than any other. By making other countries to trade only in gold and setting the constrain that gold can be purchased or sold only in dollars. This, by default, would keep the currency in demand.

European Union: The countries in EU have realized the fact "United we stand, Divided we fall". These countries stand by each other also because they are interdependent in one way or the other. We got to see their strength in the recent Greek Crises when, even the smallest of the country decided to contribute to Greek.

Gulf countries: These are the countries having Oil resource. The area which can also be called as Arab countries. The progress of this countries has been mainly based on the Oil and in recent times Tourism too has been a contributor. Dubai has been selling its picture as one of the economic hubs and all the well know companies should put up their shops there. The gulf countries too are united but unlike European Union, I think that the unity is mainly due to Culture/Religion these countries follow. We could see this unity in the recent Dubai crises where in UAE stepped in to resolve the crises and not letting it go out of control.

Next we have the Underdogs ( BRIC+ S.Korea). This are the countries which has scripted its own development without having any developed countries in the vicinity. Not to say that they do not depend on the developed countries but they do not follow the same path for development. There are many factors which makes them different. To give a simple example, if there a bomb blast in Mumbai, which is the economic capital of India we will find that the very next day the city stands on its feet and functions. In other words, these countries have grown in recent times and having come from close to zero they are hardy to factors which can have devastated effect on the developed countries. ( Again I'm not saying that it don't have any effect but its lesser when compared.)
I also like to add to this list S. Korea mainly because of the industrial sector that has been developing in recent times. Top 2 companies in consumer electronics i.e Samsung and LG are totally destroying CE companies in EU. They are also doing well in Semiconductors and Lifestyle products. Also 2 major automobile companies from this country are doing well. i.e Hyundai and KIA.So I think this is also a country to reckon with, in the future.

Others: This would include the countries from Africa. If there is conducive conditions then this could be the countries to provide manpower for the economic growth once India and China reaches a saturation point ( due to factor such as increase in Per capita, better education) and then into the same category there would also be other countries which do prefers to follow the path paved by other countries.


With this classification, I find that every Group have their USP, but I can not stop imagining what would be US unique selling point? India and China are having vast repository of Gold. With the Asians having a great affinity to the yellow metal, the appetite is only increase. There will be a point (just like the current population) when this two countries will have gold equal to or more than all the gold in the world.. Having such a reserve the Asian currency will prevail..

where will that leave the GREAT US.. ???