Just a personal opinion from an American who's effectively European, so take it for what it's worth: I get the impression the USA has been in a slow general de

Just a personal opinion from an American who's effectively European, so take it for what it's worth: I get the impression the USA has been in a slow general decline for a decade or more. A whole bunch of indicators of societal health like life expectancy, poverty, inequality, upward mobility, teen pregnancy, prison population, etc. etc. are at odds with the USA's position as the world's wealthiest nation; as a result, the World Economic Forum (whoever they are?) have announced the US is at risk of losing its status as a developed nation (or something like that). Whether justified or not, this is shocking news and means there's something systemically wrong. US corporations are discovering it's more profitable to litigate than to innovate, and more effective to buy Congressmen as rubber-stampers of friendly legislation than to do good business. The USA dropped the ball badly on stem cell research and its multi-billion-dollar health spinoff industries, and again on renewable energy and carbon emission reduction. Since I got my degree, universities have turned into money making industries rather than institutions of scholarship and research... just a few things I've noticed, that in sum can't be good. I think the US will have trouble maintaining its economic position if its middle class is struggling, academics is de-valued and investment is mostly oriented toward short term gains.