According to CNN, China is now the world's top user of the internet. The number of Chinese using the internet grew by 42% to 298 million people. And that's only one-fourth of the population, so there's plenty of room for growth.

The Chinese government wants broadband access in every village by 2010. Of course, the government also heavily censors what websites people can access, claiming it's for "state security."

The United States jumped to an early lead in all things related to computers. We basically started the computer revolution, and our dot-com startups shaped the current internet world. The early profits have come our way.

But with China's burgeoning population of computer users (not to mention India, Brazil, Russia, and other places) comes an army of computer geeks with their own innovations. We'll still lead to a large extent, mostly because we built such an early lead. But the world's changing. In the future, the US will be just one of several key players, not The Main player.

US business practices have ranged from benevolent to cut-throat. Depends on the company and who's in charge. We've exploited foreign peoples, and we've been a blessing.

America has a foundation of judeo-Christian values. In the business world, those values might be lurking way beneath the surface (companies like Exxon and Haliburton), but that foundation is there. And this has been a good thing for the world.

What values can we expect when world business is dominated by the Chinese? Respect for human life? For free speech? For public accountability? Probably not so much. It's a different world. And while US dominance has led to much exploitation, if any single country is to be dominant, I'd vote for us. And I suspect a good share of other countries would, too.