Washington is all about the fiscal cliff these days. In Doha,
Qatar, world leaders are negotiating over climate change.
Federal debt and carbon emissions are indeed two big problems on
the nation's front burner. But they are just the beginning. As
the fog of the election season lifts, America has a lot to worry
about -- everything from competing economically with China to
housing rapidly retiring baby boomers. But there is another way
to look at it. Decisively addressing the nation's primary global
challenges -- backed by the market potential of powerful
demographic shifts at home and abroad -- could yield opportunity
unlike any other in America's history. First, our four major
challenges: • In the last 20 years, households, businesses and
the federal government accumulated exceptional levels of debt,
which they are now trying, painfully, to pay down. The 2008
financial crisis triggered a spiral of unemployment and reduced
demand that is nowhere near complete. As household income
contracts, families consume l