Dragging Down the World

That hot new theory that the global economy doesn't depend on the United States anymore? It's completely wrong.

By Daniel Gross
Posted Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008, at 5:02 PM ET

"Decoupling," a promising economic idea imported from abroad, lasted a little longer than Coupling, an exciting entertainment imported from abroad. Coupling is a British sitcom that NBC adapted with much fanfare and cancelled after four episodes. "Decoupling" is the notion that the rest of the global economy could power ahead even as its biggest single motor, the United States, stalled. Decoupling was trumpeted by many of the international grandees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last January and gained currency in certain circles (including the one surrounding my desk). But now it, too, seems to have been cancelled.