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How Fast Is America Sinking?

From hard data about China’s economic prowess to cultural markers like Sesame Street’s new impoverished puppet, it sure seems like the U.S. is losing ground, and fast. 
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What’s the Latest Development?


While the American economy is mired in unemployment and its global goodwill stymied by two foreign wars, the superpower is feeling more humbled than ever. “Not a day goes by without a classic example, from the poverty-stricken new muppet on Sesame Street who doesn’t have enough to eat to the supposed cocaine slump on Wall Street and the new government initiative to attract Chinese shoppers here.” Still, the recent Republican debates have spared no praise when it comes to recognizing America’s greatness. 

What’s the Big Idea?

If political leadership is any indication of where the U.S. may be going next, the signs are not encouraging. “There’s much that ails America today, from schools that stink to collapsing infrastructure and a bloated financial system nowhere near finished dealing with the results of the burst housing bubble. But the bigger problem may be this: a political system that rewards bloviating over American greatness but not those whose hard work or big ideas might ensure Americans actually still have something to crow about.”

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