I am waiting to see. It seems funny Europe would align itself with China, whom doesn't even know the meaning of human rights. But whatever.
The American economy has always been strong, and the reason why we would suffer with the global economy is because we have given up much of our industrial capabilities. It would take time to rebuild, but it can be rebuilt and rather quickly. Due to the resources available in the US, the population, etc., it would take some time but we would get up rather quickly. If you look at the global economy you see America as the front runner, especially when it comes to our debt (which is another reason why America can rebound faster). Many economies, including China, have directly linked their currency to the dollar and have invested heavily in American short term debt. That debt is written in our dollar, and it becomes easy to artificially inflate other's currency through our debt bonds.
China, BTW, would be utterly screwed if there was a global depression. The only real thing keeping them out of revolution is the fact that America ships enough jobs over there that they can keep enough of their population pacified. However, if unemployment skyrockets in China, their government would be screwed. Wouldn't be bad because the Chinese government is horrible, but China would be set back for awhile while they remake their government. Europe exports a ton to the US and the reason for many of their economical booms is linked directly to American consumerism. Without it, you won't be able to rebound. In short, isolationism hurts everyone, but hurts the US the least. We will always have consumerism and once we get our factories up and running again, our economy would bloom. Without our dollar, however, the European economies would rebound at a slower rate.
