There is a widespread belief in this country that America is an exceptional country. Historically it always seems to find itself on top militarily and economically. Recently, however, we have become complacent in our maintenance of our exceptionalism. Much like in Rocky III, the champ is only superficially preparing to fight a more determined and more violent opponent, Mr. T. The result is that Rocky gets his butt whooped. The movie ends with Rocky coming back–training hard and rediscovering his passion to win–and reclaiming his title from Mr. T.

Nice story, but the U.S. can’t afford to have it’s butt whooped even once, because our competitors will never even let us back into the ring. Sitting on our hands and waiting for the next American economic revolution is irresponsible. Stifling investment into stem cell research and affordable energy is dangerous. It is time to rediscover the power of government to enable our economy to renew itself. In his review of three recent histories of America’s economy in the New York Review of Books, Gabriele Annan has this to say:

“Peter H. Lindert, an economic historian and professor at the University of California at Davis, has published the first volume of a two-volume work called Growing Public that presents comprehensive statistical and historical comparisons of developed nations. His purpose is to show how government social spending has either stimulated or retarded economic growth in nations, but he finds that there is no simple relationship between the proportion of an economy’s spending devoted to government social programs and the rate of economic growth. Many nations with high levels of social spending…have become as productive as the US. One reason is that government spending, even if it diverts resources from private industry, has often been devoted to public investments that benefit the economy. Among the most important of these is education.”

I would argue that education is even more important today than in previous times. Our economy is becoming increasingly reliant on technology and non-industrial jobs as globalization’s influences take effect. Unfortunately, the US is lagging behind many countries in education spending and performance. For example, the US recently finished and ominous 17th in an international programming contest.

Investing in education should be a major priority for the government. Investing in better schools, however, is not the only way to accomplish this. Encouraging American students to pursue engineering, educational and scientific careers by creating incentives (such as forgiving loans) would help us take advantage of our current system while simultaneously increasing demand for improvements. Also, it is important for the US to continue to draw the brightest minds from around the world to our shores. Much of our past scientific success came from European scientists living here (nuclear power/weapons, rocketry, etc.), but unless India, China and Japan descend into a World War and their scientists flee, the US will have to rely on its institutions to draw them here. Finally, with so much of the US workforce in temporary or precarious employment (thanks Wal-Mart), the US could offer an education program for people who get laid off. Who knows, maybe our next great innovator is a greeter at Wal-Mart or a gift-wrapper at Macys.

I seem to remember Rocky getting similar advice before his first fight with Mr. T.

~The Stuffed Tiger