Seven New Myths of the Twenty-First Century.

• Position: OFF THE NEWS

1. NOTHING EVER CHANGES

   "Amazon's market value is twice that of Walmart and 500-fold that of evaporating Sears. Apple's valuation is twice Exxon's, and Facebook and Google are each valued at 20-fold CBS. Next come 200 'unicorns,' private software-dominated startups each valued at over $1 billion. Uber has a valuation greater than all car rental companies combined, and 8-year-old Airbnb is worth as much as 80-year-old Marriott."

   --Mark Mills, Wall Street Journal

2. AMERICA CAN'T MAKE THINGS

   "American manufacturing has more than doubled output in real terms since the Reagan era, to over $2 trillion today. Productivity is soaring. Output per labor hour rose by 47 percent between 2002 and 2015, outpacing gains in Britain, France, and Germany. A survey of global chief executives conducted in 2016 by Deloitte, a consultancy, found that bosses expect American manufacturing to become more competitive than China's as soon as the next few years, in part because pay for Chinese workers has risen. A closely followed index of American manufacturing activity hit a thirteen-year high in September."

   --The Economist

3. CENTRAL CONTROL WORKS

   "The aggregate return on assets for [China's] state-owned industrial sector, as high as 6 percent in 2007, now is barely 3 percent--not only well below the 7 percent average for all industrial companies but the average bank lending rate of 5 percent."

   --Wall Street Journal

4. AMERICANS HAVE LEARNED THE LESSON OF EXCESSIVE LEVERAGE

   "Outstanding credit card debt--the total balances that customers roll from month to month--hit a record $1 trillion this year, according to the Federal Reserve. The number of Americans with at least one credit card has reached 171 million, the highest level in more than a decade, according to TransUnion, a credit-reporting...