Has America Become Less Competitive?

The Economist raised this issue by pointing out that the persistence of profitability has increased for American firms. "Motes" around the company may rise from well-earned technical advantages and superior products, but they could also be signals of monopoly and rent seeking behaviors. The article pointed out the dramatically increased concentration of companies across 900-odd industries, but what I found most convincing was the role of regulation. Mastery of regulation, especially in industries such as finance and healthcare, gives incumbents incredible advantage. 

MRMC on the Atlantic's "Obama Doctrine"

The Atlantic's treatment of Obama's foreign policy explores with depth the troubles and conflicts that the US leader has in prioritizing problems, imposed onto him both by his personal views and by the complexity of today's evolving world order.

What I liked the most from the article was Obama's clinical description of what has been happening in failed states: "You have countries that are failing to provide prosperity and opportunity for their people. You've got a violent, extremist ideology, or ideologies that are turbocharged through social media. you've got countries that have very few civic traditions, so that as autocratic regimes start fraying, the only organizing principles are sectarian"

The quote reminded me of Tocqueville's treatment of the US, in how it has mastered the "science of association," and how the Confucian traditions have been a source of resilience in Asia even after wars devastated many of them.