Where is America's place in the world?

When the Soviet Union dissolved in the early 1990s, we thought we knew that place. The United States would use its superpower status to lead the world into a promising future of peace and prosperity. As we know now, that road has not always been a smooth one.

I remain optimistic that we will achieve that ideal despite seeing some ominous signs in my travels around the world. Anti-American feelings are growing in many places, and not just because of backlashes over globalization and the war in Iraq.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the United States has the world’s best economic system. This country creates more wealth and produces more opportunities for the creative, the hardworking and the resourceful than any other nation on the planet.

But the U.S. government has recently taken some actions that have stirred up emotions in the world’s business community. It has broadened its jurisdictional claims when it comes to prosecuting alleged fi nancial crimes, and it has extended the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to foreign companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges.

Is the government overreaching, with no real checks and balances? Has the government gone from refereeing capitalism to strangling capitalism?

Many educated and sophisticated people have reached those conclusions based on what’s occurred in the past few years. There are signs that these actions may damage the American economy by crimping our capital markets and cutting into future job creation.

Motivated by the 9-11 terror attacks, the United States signed a new treaty with Britain that made it easier to extradite suspected terrorists. Under this treaty, the U.S. need not even produce clear evidence of wrongdoing.

According to a recent article in The Guardian newspaper in England, the U.S. has sought extradition of 44 people from Britain under their bilateral treaty. Of that number, more than half faced charges alleging fi nancial misdeeds. Only three were wanted for terrorism.

The ill will generated by use of the treaty actually led to an unusual act of civil disobedience last summer: a protest march in London by pinstripe-clad fi nanciers opposed to the British government’s decision to extradite three bankers to Texas to face Enron-related fraud charges.

In October, the government in Washington used legislation to reach across the Atlantic and crush the fast-growing Internet gaming industry, much of it based in London. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist proclaimed that Congress had to protect Americans from “a serious addiction that undermines the family, dashes dreams and frays the fabric of society.” But many outside the United States believe the true motive is to protect Las Vegas, Indian casinos, state lotteries and other lucrative domestic gaming franchises from overseas competition.

Such actions are perceived as arrogant and contribute to increasingly sour feelings toward America, even among our closest friends and allies. A survey this year by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that 56 percent of Britons had a favorable view of the U.S., down from 83 percent in 2000. The slide has been even more dramatic in Germany, Spain and other countries, according to the annual Pew study.

Other data points support this sentiment. A French entrepreneur is marketing “Mecca Cola” around Europe to exploit this trend. Earlier this year Coca-Cola and Pepsi were banned in a large swath of India, a move many believe was rooted in anti-Americanism. And during the World Cup soccer tournament in Germany, the U.S. team was asked to not display the American flag on its team bus.