1776 And All That By Edward Hoagland Summary

The “Downfall” of America For hundreds of years, America and other Western powers were considered the kings of the world. America has been known as the land where the poor and sick can start anew, working hard and getting rich. That is the American Dream isn’t it? However, over the past few decades, the idea that America is reaching its collapse has become much more popular and probable. At this time, America may not be far from that point of demise. In the essay, “1776 and All That” by Edward Hoagland, he brings up the points that America has become too self-absorbed and confident, leading us to ignore the dangers of countries that before, were thought to be no harm. We do not only ignore those other countries, it seems as if we ignore the
Shanghai has become the new Hong Kong, while Hong Kong has become the new Tokyo, and Singapore has become a world trade center. Shanghai now contains some of the tallest buildings in Asia. MSCI, which is a provider of stock market indexes, might have Shanghai stocks in their biggest emerging markets (Rapoza). In a prosperity index posted by the Legatum Institute in 2009, the United States ranked as the 9th most prosperous country in the world. This may seem like a great position to be in, but 9th is five spots lower than the year before. Now that might seem awful due to the recession suffered during that time, but most of the world experienced the same recession, but are recovering faster. For a long time period after the recession, America struggled through a jobless recovery. The U.S. holds a poverty rate of 17%, which is third worst in the world behind Mexico and China. 15 year-olds score below average for advanced nations on math and science literacy tests, which leaves us only ahead of a few other countries such as Turkey and Greece. In the Legatum study, the U.S. is 27th for citizens’ health and life expectancy is below average for the 30 measured advanced countries