> It's pretty much Silicon Valley that is still
> keeping the US in the game.
It's having the courage to dream, the passion to execute, and the friends and colleagues who will offer a hand up after you fail.
No where else have I seen this spirit so embodied and embraced than in SV.
The reason that places like the US are prosperous is down to the basics: Low corruption; a functioning legal system; public trust in the institutions of the state. These are the (interrelated, and mutually reinforcing) preconditions for a stable and prosperous society.
The US also has the advantage of very favourable geography - it has strategic depth, it is isolated on two sides by the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and it has excellent internal transport routes to facilitate internal commerce (eg. the Mississippi River system).
Most of the immigrants don't actually uproot their origins; most immigrant communities still bond with their own country men, and they're probably more loyal to their home country than to the US. (of course, they can't show it when they're interviewed by the media; they have to pretend they've ditched their origins and became "Americans").
For many years America was one of the freest places to do business. Because of that and their geography they were able to leverage massive industrial power to fuel the Allied war machine while charging a large portion of that back to their allies. After WW2 they correctly realized that they needed a plan to get the rest of the world on track, because they were the only ones left with functioning industry, they gave and sold the world the means of production. (Marshall Aid plan)
From these acts they became the worlds reserve currency and leveraged that into massive monetary expansion and reaped the rewards of seigniorage.
The problem is that American has adopted a very anti-business climate (Sarbox, Dodd-Frank, etc) and is still acting like it represents 60% of world GDP.
It's pretty much Silicon Valley that is still keeping the US in the game.
Also, not to forget is the Americans were smart enough to offer to pay the Sauds their bribe to be able to protect them. The British scoffed at this offer and the rest is pretty much history. Basically, the Sauds said 'someone pay us for the privilege of protecting us'
I'm not American but hold a deep respect for the things the country has done for the world.