The historical arc of US empire is unique in that it was compressed (a mere 100 years) and because, since it began in 1900, we can witness its path from rise to fall in detailed photographs. We can see that the rapid growth of the Eastern cities was seeded by vast investments. Just look at photos from the 1900's of the new high-rises, the YMCA's, the orphan homes, the libraries. State churches (Lutheran, Presbyterian) dotted every corner, along with Music Halls and theaters. The roads were built, beautiful granite buildings were constructed, factories were assembled and opened for business. Furniture shops, bicycle companies and auto lots sprang up as if by magic, offering inexpensive goods for growing families. Houses were affordable for every working man, and large enough to accommodate a family of 10. Wages were high and food was cheap. Railroads carried goods cheaply and efficiently from coast to coast and everywhere in between.
As everyone knows, this state of affairs lasted until the 1950's. Even through the Depression, the scrap drives of WW1 and the rationing of WW2, every American was aware that the government was working on the problems, slapping up new factories and electrical grids in an effort to bring workers into the cities. The New Deal and the Works Progress Administration put every unqualified man to work, taught him a useful trade and gave him a factory job at high wages. The movies created in those days held up the hard-working man as a hero. It was a deliberate and focused effort to make America great, and it succeeded. The factories were enormous, efficient and most had unions. Unions gave workers a real feel for democracy, encouraging a circus-like atmosphere at political rallies and a hands-on participation in elections and local politics.
After the 1950's, this dynamic reversed. The beautiful granite buildings were pulled down, freeways were built right through the middle of established neighborhoods, the theaters became sleazy and the factories were allowed to fall into disrepair. Beyond new freeways there was no significant investment in US infrastructure. The railroads were allowed to age into obsolescence and rail lines were scrapped. From the 1960's on there is a concerted effort to force Easterners to move down into the Sunbelt, but housing becomes less and less affordable. Unions are demonized and destroyed. The quality of US manufacturing dropped below international standards and everyone started buying Japanese cars. Every new invention in Silicon Valley was shipped to Japan for manufacture. Everyone is familiar with these facts, and yet they ignore the obvious signs of a deliberately orchestrated rise and fall of a short-term global empire.
When the US was at the peak of its power, its global empire needed college-educated administrators. Every empire needs lots of urbane lackeys and cultured agents in every country around the world subservient to it. They need to be culturally agnostic and intellectually flexible enough to manage lots of different societies, whether they be liberal, conservative, urban or tribal. Those days are gone. The fall of the Twin Towers (representing Manhattan and the City of London) was a message to the entire empire: it's over. China is now scraping the countryside for warm bodies, importing them into the cities (pre-built to serve their every need), and giving them factory jobs. They are teaching farmers how to dress and speak as agents of the New World Order, just like the US taught American farmers one hundred years ago. There is a clear pattern of economic growth and decline, and if you don't recognize the phase that we are in, then you are swimming upstream.
The first point to consider is that this rise and fall is deliberate. It is not an accident that the fall of the USA is coincident with the rise of China. At first through Japan, and then later directly, the US financed China's rise. This is what all empires do. They create the new empire that will replace it. The destruction of the WTC signalled that the old empire will be deliberately humbled and that the resources of the entire world are to be concentrated in the new empire in China. The second point to consider is the type of jobs that will be profitable in the new banana republic of the USA. A good comparison would be the types of jobs that are lucrative in the other banana republics we are familiar with: security, smuggling, retail and repair. Washington DC will return to being a swamp (no one respects or even obeys the government of a banana republic) and the best jobs will be in East Asia. Of course, we are only 23 years into the new empire. No one is saying China is on a par with the US... yet. Within 50 years it will certainly surpass the US at its peak, and in some places it already does.
Japan and China are now the center of the world, not the USA. Every ivy-league college teaches Chinese now, because these ivy-league graduates are not being educated to rule the US from Washington anymore. The US has been stripped of anything of value and every dollar is being piled into the Chinese economy. The feeling we have of being abandoned by global elites is the same feeling Europe experienced when Britain handed the crown of empire to the US. What we think of as US culture is based on the Manifest Destiny of eternal global leadership. We are naturally dismayed to see this dream evaporate. It is natural to mourn our lost empire and it is confusing to find ourselves governed by a bankrupt European-style principality. However, facts are facts, and if you are not planning on moving to Shanghai then a university education is a complete waste of time and money. From now on we will be competing on a level playing field with hard-working Mexicans.