In the annual State Department green-card lottery that awards permanent-resident status to prospective immigrants via random drawing, New York's government is very proactive in seeking out new immigrants and becomes home for 12% of lottery winners.

FORBES: America's Fastest-Growing Cities

Mr Zhou suggests that the dollar's reserve status should be transferred to the SDR (Special Drawing Rights), a synthetic currency created by the IMF, whose value is determined as a weighted average of the dollar, euro, yen and pound.

ECONOMIST: China suggests an end to the dollar era

Recently China and other countries have questioned that status, advocating greater use of other currencies or a currency basket like the IMF's Special Drawing Right (SDR).

ECONOMIST: America��s debt crisis will be chronic, not acute