While a special purpose technology such as landline telephones can be skipped in favor of a new technology that does the same thing such as, say, mobile phones, it is difficult for countries to leapfrog over general purpose technologies. But the real advantage of the U.S. is that government exercises a lighter touch than in China or Europe, leading to shorter lags from invention to market and quicker adaptation by businesses so that productivity gains are realized more quickly than in competing countries. People who make long-term economic forecasts have a tendency to focus on strengths: China can mobilize a lot of money so it will become a superpower, the U.S.