CEO Pay, Poverty, and the Rise of the BRICs

Disturbing headlines on the domestic front:
 
CEO pay more than federal taxes at Boeing, eBay, GE, Verizon, and others

Poverty Reaches a 52-Year Peak: 1 in 6 Americans below the poverty line ($22, 314 for a family of 4)

And signs of shifting global power in the world:

Brazil Calls Meeting of BRICs to Help Bolster Eurozone Finances (and Geithner's pleas are largely dismissed by Euro finance ministers--perhaps we are no longer the go-to country in financial crises)

Brazil and China have both become net donors in foreign aid: indeed in absolute dollars China is second only to the U.S. in terms of foreign aid--this is not only effective soft diplomacy, but often has plenty of explicit strings attached.  The balance of world power is shifting.  The U.S. is not going to stop being a superpower anytime soon, but our standing in the world is diminishing and it is ever more difficult for the U.S. to act unilaterally.