AAA

In addition to the same first letter, what do these words have in common: agriculture, automobile and airplane? You win the cigar if you said that they are all fields in which the US was number one within the lifetime of most of us and is now no longer.

As you saw from my last post, Brazil is now the leader in many agricultural areas. Russia competes with us in the world wheat market; it was not many years ago that we were shipping wheat to Russia to prevent famine. McDonalds buys 10% or more of its food from Australia. Vietnam is a major shrimp dealer.

Like many Americans, I could not conceive of buying a Toyota when they first landed here. An Alfa Romeo, maybe. But a Japanese car? Never. Now, forty or so years later, Toyota is number 1 in the world and most of the other Japanese car makers hold slots in the top 10. It’s not only Japan; Chrysler is owned by Daimler-Benz. Fifty years ago, Charles Wilson, the head of GM, made headlines around the world when he declared, “What’s good for GM is good for America.” When was the last time you considered GM a truly major international force?

Remember McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed, Grumman, Northrop, Boeing? Who among them actually makes planes today? Yea, how many of these companies remain as independent entities? Boeing is having a hard time competing with Airbus, a firm that almost did not make it past its infancy. Now, they share the market with an American icon.

I’m not mouthing off here just to be negative about this country. I’m really asking us to look at the world with clear eyes and see it for what it is. We are inventive and ingenious enough to have solved many of the problems we have faced. But, our solution has always came after we realized that there was a problem.

Nor am I saying that we have to be #1 in everything. However, instead of mouthing off about how great we are and thinking we are the envy of the world, we should acknowledge the reality that exists today. Only by doing so can we decide whether it is worthwhile to try to change that reality.