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There are TONS of higher educational institutions that are worthwhile on the planet, and even internally the value of the US college education is being seriously challenged.
Truth is there are a ton of better behaved cultures out there, and many of those value their family instead of relying on social programs.
We are DEFINITELY not getting our money's worth out of our K-12 schools. Not even close. That data point you cite is available pretty much anywhere in a technologically advanced society.
Last, Americans have cornered the market on being selfish, even with all of their social programs.
I always thought that our "competitive advantage" was our former policy of inclusion. Anybody who wanted our opportunties was allowed to enter, but they better know that they will most likely enter on the bottom rung. That was enough for these new American participants, as the POTENTIAL to climb up the social ladder was always present HERE, whereas that same opportunity was likey not offered THERE (where ever they were coming from).
Our acceptance of those workers has dwindled. That will drive production costs up.
We have shot ourselves in the foot.
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I am wondering because any benefit they gave us, wouldn't that opportunity also be available to other nations?
It is not like the oceans are a one-sided coin.
However, we didn't invest much in our future (such as incorporating continuous improvement quality systems in our manufacturing). We blew a truckload of it on higher wages (union workers in the steel mills of the early 70's were making close to $20/hour, corporate execs were building huge country clubs....I saw this firsthand, since I grew up near Bethlehem Steel).
When the foreign nations began to produce again, they started kicking our asses, because they knew how to keep quality up and costs down. Now, our money flows out of our borders. We've become a "get it while you can" society. The diversity you speak of burns our time bickering who deserves what, while many other nations simply move forward in their efforts. We're losing our manufacturing capabilities stateside, and those skills take generations to rebuild. While we give that away, the other nations are adopting it, and they're getting damn good at it. the idea that everything China produces is junk is a fallacy to those in development/manufacturing. And don't expect that manufacturing to come back anytime soon. The times are seriously changing.
The oceans were definitely a one-sided coin.
Hind-sight is 20-20, and we rested upon our laurels.
Your "get it while you can" point is VERY valid. I remember being told in the 2000's that "out-sourcing" was good, because it benefitted the shareholder.
We thought the pie would ALWAYS expand.
We used our homes as ATM's, because the value would ALWAYS increase.
We went to war, and got a tax cut! (Every other time we exported our war machine, we sacrificed.)
It is time to pay the Piper, but all we want to do is question the bill. Too late.
Thanks for the clarification. I do not disagree.
No doubt the Constitution is one bad-ass basis for government, at least in theory. But, Americans aren't unselfish or responsible enough to contribute to a country that is worthy of such a document. In fact, our "independence" and diversity are part of our problem. Unfortunately, I can think of other cultures who might fare better with it than we are. Sad, but true.
Their existence because of our protection has zero to do with this discussion. Or, at least I can't see it.
Point being, I think they do much better with a similar system than we do.
As far as China goes they are essentially in an industrial revolution type society. They will not be able to maintain that for much longer. As they continue to grow economically their workforce will more and more demand a higher quality of life, thus lowering their trading advantage. They will gradually consume more and produce less. You are right in that I don't think they will become reliant on social programs but in China's case they are able to lessen that by eliminating a high portion of the workforce by having the government engineer their population growth. As China continues becomes more free the government will no longer be able to artificially control those sorts of things.
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