THE PARADOX OF PROSPERITY

The world as we knew it has changed forever, and the American Century looks to conclude with a huge party, a cancan line of irrepressible bankers and impossibly rich computer nerds dancing on the grave of the business cycle, while politicians of all kinds sing the praises of a new economy that might let them be re-elected forever and ever, as long as people keep voting their pocketbook. So now what?

In real life, the big, bright, global, wired economy means that offices in Washington that once skimped on holiday decorations have hired a singing harpist for the lobby. There are...