Is America loosing it?

There is an ongoing debate in the media and in the industry whether America is loosing its competitiveness. This discussion has intensified recently. No wonder with all the recent developments of outsourcing, offshoring, layoffs while companies have record profits, etc. There is a recent series of articles which have highlighted this debate:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13123358/site/newsweek/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13117432/site/newsweek/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13117440/site/newsweek/

The irony being that America is seen as the main driver for globalization and its effects. Much of today's global interconnectedness exists because of America. And today it is feared by American citizens like nowhere else - well maybe Europe is fearing it even more. The irony being that in the dot-com boom it let in thousands from India, helped to build their experience and then in the dot-com bust laid many of them off which forced them to go back to India. Back in India they helped to fuel the offshoring craze and lure contracts worth billions of dollars to India. Irony being many who are now competing with America on a global base went to American schools and universities. Irony being America helped educate in one way or the other the very same people which are now competing with them. Irony being that many who want to come to America and work and live there - help to make America prosperous - are no longer allowed in so they now stay at home and compete with Americans. There is no simple answer to this, even so we continue to search for one. Maybe the answer lies in what we try to invest in the least - education. Most western countries are cutting back funding in schools, funding in research projects and funding in training their employees. America and Europe is busy becoming a knowledge based economy while doing everything we can to make it as hard as possible to gain knowledge and experience. We can only compete on the basis of knowledge and experience. We can not compete by producing product cheaper. But we can compete on invention, by creating ever more sophisticated but at the same time easier to use products.

Unfortunately this problem is not owned by a single group or person. Governments need to own this problem as much as corporations and individuals. And by getting protective we are just making the problem worse. This will get worse till America lets go of its short-sighted profit drive, short-sighted fix-the-problem and the short-sighted let me make as much money as I can. Europe's perspective which is much more on the long-run has much higher chance of succeeding.