JohnT wrote:

I suppose that it depends on your definition of "number one player". To me,
it seems to be a Country which has spectacularly lost its way in the last
few years and which is now living on past glories. And its deficit has now
reached gynormous proportions.


You realize of course that our GDP is also "gynormous" compared to that
of other countries. Here is a link to a comparison based on percentage
of GDP.