One of the first challenges that the next US President Barack Obama will face is the effects of the ongoing financial crisis, which has called into question the future of American power.

An article in The Far Eastern Economic Review proclaims that "Wall Street's crack-up presages a global tectonic shift: the beginning of the decline of American power."

Yet the dollar, a symbol of American financial power, has surged rather than declined. As Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor and former chief economist of the IMF, notes, "It is ironic, given that we just messed up big-time, that the response of foreigners is to pour more money into us. They're not sure where else to go. They seem to have more confidence in our ability to solve our problems than we do."