America, That Used To Be Us

After years of economic decline, many Americans may wonder whether it is too late for the country to return to its former glory.  In “That Used to be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World it Invents and How We Can Come Back”, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and John Hopkins professor Michael Mandelbaum say that it is possible for America to regain its strength, but it won’t be easy.

Friedman is the best-selling author of several books including “Hot, Flat and Crowded”, while Mandelbaum is a leader in foreign policy studies.  Together, they write: “This book is [our] way of saying something— about what is wrong, why things have gone wrong, and what we can and must do to make them right.”

Although America has been a superpower for decades, Friedman and Mandelbaum say that it is now shaking under a foundation of inefficiencies and blame-gaming. Like choosing to build a house out of sand instead of bricks, Americans have slowly turned away from the policies and principals that once lead the country to great prosperity. Some may entirely fault the government for the country’s troubles, but the authors say we all share some of the blame.

In order for America to dramatically change direction, Friedman and Mandelbaum recommend that Americans “save more, consume less, study longer, and work harder.” Doing so will prepare the U.S. for what the authors explain are the country’s biggest challenges— globalization, the information technology (IT) movement, deficits and debt, energy demand, and climate change.

The United States has been ahead of the world for so long because it has had the best access to human and academic resources. But technological advancements now make nearly all information available to anyone in the world. With other countries taking advantage of this new access, global competition is rising to unprecedented levels. The national debt and deficit, meanwhile, are two of the nation’s most glaring economic weaknesses, yet politicians and citizens are reluctant or unwilling to work collaboratively and make sacrifices that would benefit the entire country. The world’s energy consumption levels also are increasing as countries develop, but the government is not investing enough into renewable energy and climate change.

Tackling all of these problems may seem impossible, but Friedman and Mandelbaum remind readers of the Five Pillars of Prosperity that made America so successful in the first place: public education, infrastructure, immigration, research and development, and the economy.

Because of globalization and IT growth, all Americans need a quality education to qualify for new and more complex jobs. While foreign countries are building state-of-the-art structures and facilities, America needs to at least work on bringing its roads, bridges, and buildings into the 21^st century. Instead of driving away immigrants, the US should be reforming old policies to make it easier for these potential workers to contribute to national growth. The country should be pouring billions of dollars in funding and resources into science and technology research, and we should be working together to regulate the economy.

“That Used to be Us” reads very well for a book examining such multifaceted issues. Rather than fill the book with endless facts and data, the authors use anecdotes, real-world examples, and observations to get their points across. Although I appreciate their attempt to deliver as much information to the public as possible, it would have been better to go more in depth on fewer topics. With politics, the economy, and globalization being the more talked about issues right now, the authors did not need to devote entire chapters to energy or climate change— previous headliners that were most relevant to Americans a few years ago. Nevertheless, including them did not take away from the overall quality of the book.

When I read “that used to be us” in the title, I thought the book would be filled with incessant criticisms about how the American Dream is over. I’m glad to say that this book’s message is more positive than I expected, but I’m also pleased that the authors did not sugarcoat the country’s most pressing concerns and discussed what America really needs to do to thrive in a changing world.