Having worked 14 years for the Singapore Government back in the eighties, I had first hand experience how the Singapore of today was launched. With no natural resources except the industry of their people and geographical location, they invested in education. Improving secondary and tertiary education was the driving force. Within 40 years the people were enjoying a GDP equivalent to the US. When I came to teach in the US I found the education system backward. Now it's even worse. Newer more dynamic, thoughtful ways of educating young people to prepare them for the tech world were being adopted by China, Singapore and Japan. The governor of Shanghai on a state visit to Singapore asked me, "How do we get our students to think, not just to learn?" That question is never asked in the US. Here the commonest teaching technique is open the book and do the test. Thinking is not required. US universities have filled the gap by importing and keeping talent from overseas. Now the US system is being dumbed down in favor of compliance and political conformity. Encouraging intellectual brilliance is no longed a primary goal. Top industries like Intel falter for want to intelligent leadership. The President focuses on projects which he thinks give him publicity and fame. China, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea meanwhile stick to their goals. Result? The economy of the world is shifting to the East. Europe is waking up. China is awake. America is looking stale and tired.