Ah, there is way too much material in this thread, and it's all a bit jumbled up, each of us is putting forth his or her own interpretations mixed in with just enough inaccuracies to keep the thread going. . .
I think we dispensed with the idea that everyone hates America. I think there has been more than enough material to establish that there are a lot of good reasons for being very frustrated with America from all sides including the inside!

Just recently finished an interesting book, "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. She starts with some very ill-prepared American missionaries to The Congo, then follows them through the Patrice Lumumba period, where heavy involvement by foreign business interests assisted in derailing an attempt at starting an African Democracy. Iranians of today have reason to be distrustful of the United States after an outright CIA (and British) subversion of their Democratic aspirations in the mid 50's.

Part of the American side of things was that we felt we were fighting a global World War against International Communism, which in fact we were. We didn't always play our hand very well, and we were ourselves subverted, by thinking we should support the French against Communism in Indochina, and the British against Communism in the Middle East.

I'd say the saving grace of Americans, besides the fact that we're so smart and good-looking, is the heavy amount of self-criticism we can give ourselves.

We are in a new situation now, we are the lone 'Superpower'. We have fewer excuses for our inaccuracies and excesses. What will change that situation is that the world has grown into a Superpower its own self. The internet has enabled the broad release of way more information than in fact exists. Due to enough large healthy, increasingly educated populations, there is plenty of young labor across the world.

Thanks in one way to George W. Bush (of whom I'm NOT a fan), a deliberate attempt is being made to counter some great evils in the world. Thanks in another way to 'W', the United States is expending so much largesse on unremunerative projects that its status as a World Superpower will definitely be diminished sooner rather than later.

So in an intersting way, we'll ALL get what we want at some level.

In the end, efficiency will be rewarded, and we will not necessarily have to learn Chinese, but we'll dance to their music.