I've read various reviews of Tyler Cowen's new book (and I read his blog, very occasionally). I'm not worried about what he is worried about. I have lived overs

I've read various reviews of Tyler Cowen's new book (and I read his blog, very occasionally). I'm not worried about what he is worried about. I have lived overseas, twice. I'm back in the United States because the joint conclusion of my family (including my wife, who grew up in another country) is that the United States still offers us, and millions of other people, a whole lot of opportunity for personal advancement that is hard to find in other countries, even thriving, developed countries that also have representative government, a free press, and broad protection of individual liberties. The death of the middle class in the United States has been predicted for a long time, but middle-class Americans still look like rich people in most other countries. The whole economy has been transformed over the last century (my uncle farms land that was first developed into a farm by my grandfather a century ago, when a large percentage of the United States population were farmers), but people are still mostly employed, and living in larger, more comfortable houses, eating better, and living longer[1] than ever. What is called decline in the United States looks a lot like progress anywhere else in the world. People are still very eager to immigrate to the United States,[2] so what exactly is the problem? [1] An article in a series on Slate, "Why Are You Not Dead Yet? Life expectancy doubled in past 150 years. Here’s why." http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science_of_longevity/2013/09/life_expectancy_history_public_health_and_medical_advances_that_lead_to.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science_of_... Life expectancy at age 40, at age 60, and at even higher ages is still rising throughout the developed countries of the world. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=longevity-why-we-die-global-life-expectancy http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=longevity-w... [2] http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/232-million-people-left-their-countries-for-new-ones-where-did-they-go/279741/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/232... http://www.gallup.com/poll/161435/100-million-worldwide-dream-life.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/161435/100-million-worldwide-drea... AFTER EDIT: I've still got time to edit this comment, so I'll respond to the people who think I am ignoring important trend lines. I respectfully disagree. (Note that I am well known here on Hacker News for saying that United States K-12 education needs improvement, so I am by no means saying that there is nothing left to improve, or nothing to worry about, here.) A funny comment posted on Hacker News about Japan's "lost decade" (posted before I opened my user account here) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=329218 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=329218 shows how difficult it is for a developed country to lose ground: It was terrible. People were forced to eat raw fish for sustenance. They couldn't get full-sized electronics, so they were forced to make tiny ones. Unable to afford proper entertainment, folks would make do by taking turns to get up and sing songs. I've grown up in the United States, and I've been hearing predictions of doom here throughout my life. Doom here still looks like heaven to most people in most parts of the world.