Number One Forever?

Hungry to grow or protecting what you’ve got? If you’re in the latter category, history is not on your side. Writing for the March 14^th Time Magazine (page 28), Fareed Zakaria wrote: “The following rankings come from various lists, but they all tell the same story. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), our 15-year-olds rank 17^th in the world in science and 25^th in math. We rank 12^th among developed countries in college graduation (down from No. 1 for decades). We come in 79^th in elementary-school enrollment. Our infrastructure is ranked 23^rd in the world, well behind every other major advanced economy. American health numbers are stunning for a rich country: based on studies by the OECD and the World Health Organization, we’re 27^th in life expectancy, 18^th in diabetes and first in obesity. Only a few decades ago, the U.S. stood tall in such rankings. No more.”

Slogans that we have the best healthcare system in the world are boldfaced lies when any form of metrics are used: annual cost, life expectancy, rates of serious disease… there are virtual no metrics to the contrary, but criticize the healthcare system, and you are a “socialist,” another slogan that puts a lid on that exploration. American politicians don’t seem to have the slightest ability to differentiate between pure expenses that don’t add value to the nation – take a look at the recent military efforts mounted by the U.S. and ask if we are, in any measurable way, better off – and investments that will generate sustainable benefits for us all – like infrastructure and education.

Indeed, by that measure, Dwight David Eisenhower was a great President by that measure. He is responsible for the construction of the interstate system of highways that created manufacturing and employment opportunities that would never have happened without such a massive infrastructure project: “The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (Public Law 84-627), was enacted on June 29, 1956, when Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law. With an original authorization of 25 billion dollars for the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of the Interstate Highway System supposedly over a 20-year period, it was the largest public works project in American history through that time.” Wikipedia. It has since expanded to almost 47,000 miles. Oh, did I mention, Eisenhower was a Republican.

But the legislation that is making its way through Congress these days is all about cutting spending, on investments and expenses alike, as if they were one and the same. The underlying theme in most of this “austerity” program is of benefit to incumbents: lower taxes and less regulation, folks interested in preserving what they’ve got and not particularly concerned about the national decline outlined above. To be a great nation, it takes more than just telling the world that you are or that the American spirit will always rise to meet the challenge… even if its infrastructure is crumbling and its people are less educated than they have been since the last growth explosion placed us at the top of the pile.

The issues are not just about our feeble efforts… coasting on the “investments” of prior generations without adding much of value to the nature of the going-forward value proposition for generations yet to take hold… it’s about the “investments” that other countries are making in those elements that make nations great… accelerating them towards passing us at “warp speed.” China is building infrastructure and growing educational benefits at rate unparalleled in human history. Will they use the United States as a getaway vacation playground of cheap resort housing twenty years from now?

To those in power who are slicing and dicing without regard to what is cut, please note that history will record your betrayal of the notion of American greatness, your election to sacrifice our future to preserve the lifestyle of the few today, your willingness to trade effectiveness for a litany of meaningless and pejorative slogans which will ultimately disembowel our preeminence and economic fortitude. If you really believe in America, invest in America!

I’m Peter Dekom, and I am getting fiercely angry at those who are letting the American dream simply slip away in a shower of meaningless slogans.