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There is no guarantee that the next decade (get ready for the Teens!) will be any better than this one. It's likely that China will continue to grow faster than the U.S., and we may continue to see our global dominance erode. But very significantly, we still hold many of the world's trump cards. We still have the world's strongest military, which means we can and must lead in maintaining order and crafting peace. We are the leaders in technological innovation. And we are still the nation that most others emulate. If we remember those points and avoid the easy outs of deferral and neglect, then the next decade should be a helluva lot better than the last one.
Illustrating the Worst Decade
For behind-the-scenes video of the Worst Decade cover shoot, go to time.com/decade_video
Serwer is the managing editor of FORTUNE. To find more of Serwer's insights into the next decade, look for our new TIME book Starting Over: Why the Last Decade Was So Damn Rotten and Why the Next One Will Surely Be Better. In bookstores in January