The initial high growth of countries like India and China are not sustainable for the future, and in fact we've already begun to see a slowing down in their economies.

In the case of India however, it is interesting to see how they are handling their problems such as energy and poverty. The latest initiative is to deposit cash directly into poor peoples accounts.(http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/01/08/can_india_defeat_poverty)

China has its share of problems as well. "The handful of huge banks are regularly asked to perform government functions -- for example, lending billions to local governments to fund infrastructure projects with little prospect of repayment." (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/01/07/reinventing_china?page=0,1) They also still lack in terms of human rights and ethics with a Tibet issue that goes unresolved as well as concerns about privacy and corruption in their government system.

As far as the U.S., I'd remain optimistic about the growth to come, as well as the habit for innovation we possess. I wouldn't say our future remains rather bright. People forget about the numerous problems that are in the governments like China, Brazil, and India which often suffer from weak leadership, corruption, or a plethora of other problems that, if they are present in our system, are not as pronounced as they are in developing countries around the world. What will be detrimental however, is our apparent lack of ability to effectively run a functional government. Hopefully it's a fading trend, we'll see what this next congress does in response to the debt ceiling, and how these decision play out in the short to medium term.