Endangered American Dream - How to Stop US from Becoming Third World Country and How to Win Geo-Economic Struggle for Industrial Supremacy

361 Pages·19.687 MB·English

by  Edward N. Luttwak

—
riARIN COUNTY FREE LIBRARY
nited States from Becoming
311110151776f84
Bf lirlinn—it in NTRY AND HOW TO WlN THE
Seo-Economic Struggle for Industrial Supremacy
EDWARD
LUTTWI
The
Endangered
American
Dream "Vividlywritten and
cogentlyreasoned, it offers a
—
gripping even frightening
surveyofAmerica's economic
decline. . . . This is awarning
that shouldnotbe ignored."
—
ChristopherByron,
NewYorkmagazine
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A Touchstone Book
Published by SIMON & SCHUSTER
NEW YORK LONDON
TORONTO SYDNEY
TOKYO SINGAPORE
THE
ENDANGERED
AMERICAN
DREAM
HOW TO STOP THE UNITED STATES FROM
BECOMING A THIRD-WORLD COUNTRY
AND HOW TO WIN THE GEO-ECONOMIC
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY
EDWARD LUTTWAK
N.
— —
7irc
TOUCHSTONE
RockefellerCenter
1230Avenue oftheAmericas
NewYork, NewYork 10020
Copyright © 1993 by Edward N. Luttwak, Inc.
All rights reserved
including the right ofreproduction
in whole or in part in any form.
First Touchstone Edition 1994
TOUCHSTONE and colophon are registered trademarks
ofSimon & Schuster Inc.
DESIGNED BY BARBARA M. BACHMAN
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
987654321
10
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Luttwak, Edward
The endangeredAmerican dream: how to stop the United States from
becominga Third-World countryand how to win the geo-economic
struggle for industrial supremacy/Edward N. Luttwak.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical referencesand index.
—
1. United States Foreign economic relations. 2. United States
—
Commerce. 3. United States Industries. 4. United States
—
Economic conditions 1991- 5. Competition, International.
I. Title.
HF1455.L88 1993
338.973—dc20 93-5715
C1P
ISBN 0-671-89667-9
i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
*
I welcome the opportunity to thank Steven Paul Glick, once
mystudentand nowmyadviser; Denise Natali, a mostskillful
and indefatigable researcher; and Max Tedeschi, her able as-
sistant. All of them uncovered elusive information and made
useful suggestions. For broader help given in all manner of
ways, I most gratefully thank my colleagues ofthe Center for
Strategic and International Studies ofWashington, D.C. Their
number precludes any invidious naming ofnames, or indeed
imputations of agreement with my views on matters partic-
ular or general. It is truly a great boon to pursue the lonely
calling in such generous company.
To my wi/e,
D a ly a
57
CONTENTS
1 • THE NEWSTRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIALSUPREMACY 1
2 OURJAPAN PROBLEM 45
•
3 MODELSAND MYTHS: PRUSSIAANDJAPAN 97
•
4 • WHENWILLTHEUNITEDSTATESBECOME
ATHIRDWORLDCOUNTRY? 11
5- CAPITALISM WITHOUTCAPITAL 129
6 • THE POORAND THESUPER-RICH 153
7 • WHERE HAVEALLTHE HIGHWAGES GONE? 181
8- FROM LAWTO LEGALISM 213
9 • THESAVINGSGAP 239
10 • WHAT ISTO BE DONE? 269
11 • THEGEO-ECONOMICARMS RACE 307
NOTES 327
INDEX 345
THE
ENDANGERED
AMERICAN
DREAM
CHAPTER 1
*
THE NEW STRUGGLE FOR
INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY
—
Follow a traveler to New York from Tokyo though it would be
much the same ifhe came from Zurich, Amsterdam, or Si—ngapore.
After leaving the taxi at Tokyo's downtown City Air Terminal a per-
fectly ordinary Tokyo taxi and therefore shiny clean, in perfect condi-
—
tion, its neatly dressed driver in white gloves our traveler will find
himselfaboard an equally spotless airport bus in five minutes flat, with
his baggage already checked in, boarding card issued, and passport
stamped by the seemingly effortless teamwork ofquick, careful porters
who refuse tips, airline clerks who can actually use computers at com-
puter speed, passport officers who act as ifit was theirjob to expedite
travel, and bus crews who sell tickets, load baggage, and courteously
help the encumbered while strictly keeping to departure schedules
timed to the exact minute. After an hour's bus ride over the crowded
expressway to the gleaming halls of Tokyo's Narita International Air-
port, after the long trans-Pacific flight, when our traveler finally arrives
he will be confronted by sights and sounds that would not be out of
place in Lagos orBombay. He hasarrived at NewYork'sJohn Fitzgerald
Kennedy Airport.
Instead ofthe spotless elegance ofNarita or Frankfurt orAmsterdam
or Singapore, arriving travelers at one of the several terminals that
belong to near-bankrupt airlines will find themselves walking down
dingy corridors in need of paint, over frayed carpets, often struggling
up and down narrowstairwaysalongside out-of-orderescalators. These