Newsweek: Is America Losing Its Mojo?

Posted by Kendall Harmon

We cannot stop the world from rising and doing better at innovation, nor should we want to do so: the rise of the rest is a powerful, positive phenomenon for everyone. But America must adapt to it, not watch quietly as a spectator.

For the past three decades, funding for science research has slipped, the education system has continued to decline, and immigration policy has become less and less rational. Tax and regulatory policies have been made with more thought to domestic special interests than America's long-term competition.

We have hoped it would all work out, and for a while it did. The seed capital from past decades was strong enough to carry us for decades. We got talent from abroad to mask the erosion at home. We used financial engineering to substitute for the real thing. We borrowed to the hilt and sold each other our homes in an ascending spiral that made us all feel rich. And we kicked all the real problems we face down the road, hoping that someone else would solve them. This too has become part of American culture, a culture that desperately needs to change if we are to preserve American innovation and rekindle the real American Dream.

Read it carefully and read it all.


Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Globalization • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

8 Comments
Posted November 15, 2009 at 5:26 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. libraryjim wrote:

Losing it? We’re giving it away, every time the President embarks on another apology tour!

November 15, 7:36 pm | [comment link]
2. Nikolaus wrote:

Are we losing it?  No, it is being stolen!

November 15, 7:40 pm | [comment link]
3. libraryjim wrote:

ahem. that is, every time the president apologies for our being better than other countries; when the congress:
continues to raise corporate taxes and passes stupid bills that tie the hands of small businesses; refuses to do something about illegal immigration and secure the borders.
When local governments cut education budgets rather than cutting wasteful spending.

Yes, we are losing our mojo, but from within, not from without. Nothing that a good dose of conservative focus on Constitutional principles won’t cure, however.

Jim Elliott

November 15, 7:40 pm | [comment link]
4. Archer_of_the_Forest wrote:

I was convinced our culture was doomed when we started coming up with words like “mojo.” wink

November 15, 9:59 pm | [comment link]
5. azusa wrote:

Hope and Change!

November 16, 1:28 am | [comment link]
6. francis wrote:

What a strange question for Newsweek to ask.  Does anyone subscribe to it anymore?  Thanks for posting Kendall so we can see what the other side is up to now.

November 16, 7:47 am | [comment link]
7. David Keller wrote:

Think where the American economy would be if the crooks in Washington had given a $700B tax cut instead of $700B in pork!!!!!!!!

November 16, 8:40 am | [comment link]
8. Septuagenarian wrote:

It seems that some commentators didn’t bother to read the article. One of the problems cited was that the U.S. was cutting corporate taxes while other countries were raising theirs. There are various ways of measuring the effect of that. One way is to look at two funds in my portfolio: Vanguard Total Stock Index and Vanguard Total International Stock Index. Which is doing better? The international fund. There are other measures as well.

The fact is that governments throughout the world are investing in infrastructure, technology and innovation. See “Time: Five Things the U.S. Can Learn from China”, which is posted to this blog.

We are quickly becoming the leaders in HD television sets—made in Japan. Whoopee!

November 16, 9:56 am | [comment link]
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