First published 2010
America faces an economic reckoning. While China ships $46 billion in computer equipment to the United States, America's top export to China consists of $7.6 billion worth of waste paper and scrap metal. Prestowitz documents how the nation abandoned the growth strategies that built its superpower status from the republic's founding through World War II. America once protected domestic industries, produced superior goods, led technological advancement, and maintained high savings rates. After WWII, leaders embraced destructive ideas: consumption should drive the economy over production, free trade always benefits everyone, globalization brings universal good, markets never fail, and government intervention harms growth. These false beliefs convinced policymakers that factory closures didn't matter because America was ascending to service sector superiority. The 2008 financial crisis revealed the consequences of this thinking. Prestowitz traces how these policies eroded America's economic foundations and offers practical solutions to restore the country's competitive edge and prosperity.
Genres: history, business, american, economics, non-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism
Setting: China, United States
Period: 21st-century
352 pages · Hardcover · Free Press