You may have seen Fareed Zakaria as the host of CNN’s GPS or may have caught his book “The Post American World.” I have and ignored the guy thinking he was one of these “America is doomed” people. Well, as is often the case, my hasty assumptions were wrong.

I caught his article (Are America’s Best Das Behind Us – Time)  off of Drudge a few days ago.  It is 100% a must read for everyone and most especially entrepreneurs.  You may say the guy is a dumb liberal on a dumb liberal news station or he writes for a dumb liberal rag.  I believe this is a huge misread of Fareed Zakaria.  The article  lays out Zakaria’s hypothesis that while the US is truly and presently exceptional, the groundwork for that excellence is faltering.  Meanwhile different countries are building that very groundwork for themselves.  The danger is immediately obvious we slip other countries rise.

Here’s a few synopsis type points to get the gist of where he’s going; I don’t necessarily agree with some of his solutions to the problems as Zakaria seems to lean a little more to the classic liberal view of these things.  But I think the assesses the problem pretty well.  In addressing the problem there is an inherent call to action that I think we all need to take.  See the quotes below. 

On why we are excellent today:

What we see today is an American economy that has boomed because of policies and developments of the 1950s and ’60s: the interstate-highway system, massive funding for science and technology, a public-education system that was the envy of the world and generous immigration policies. Look at some underlying measures today, and you will wonder about the future.

The Secret Sauce of the West:

“For 500 years the West patented six killer applications that set it apart. The first to download them was Japan. Over the last century, one Asian country after another has downloaded these killer apps — competition, modern science, the rule of law and private property rights, modern medicine, the consumer society and the work ethic. Those six things are the secret sauce of Western civilization.”

The problem within politics:

The debate between Democrats and Republicans on the budget excludes the largest drivers of the long-term deficit — Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare — to say nothing of the biggest nonentitlement costs, like the tax break for interest on mortgages. Only four months ago, the Simpson-Bowles commission presented a series of highly intelligent solutions to our fiscal problems, proposing $4 trillion in savings, mostly through cuts in programs but also through some tax increases. They have been forgotten by both parties, in particular the Republicans, whose leading budgetary spokesman, Paul Ryan, praises the commission in the abstract even though he voted against its recommendations. Democrats, for their part, became apoplectic about a proposal to raise the retirement age for Social Security by one year — in 2050.

…But reducing funds for things like education, scientific research, air-traffic control, NASA, infrastructure and alternative energy will not produce much in savings, and it will hurt the economy’s long-term growth. It would happen at the very moment that countries from Germany to South Korea to China are making large investments in education, science, technology and infrastructure. We are cutting investments and subsidizing consumption — exactly the opposite of what are the main drivers of economic growth.

The whole system is geared to preserve current subsidies, tax breaks and loopholes. That is why the federal government spends $4 on elderly people for every $1 it spends on those under 18. And when the time comes to make cuts, guess whose programs are first on the chopping board. That is a terrible sign of a society’s priorities and outlook.

The American political system is actually quite efficient. It distributes the big bucks to popular programs and powerful special interests.) And neither side will even talk about tax increases, though it is impossible to achieve long-term fiscal stability without them.

The albatross of success:

America’s success has made it sclerotic. We have sat on top of the world for almost a century, and our repeated economic, political and military victories have made us quite sure that we are destined to be No. 1 forever. We have some advantages. Size matters: when crises come, they do not overwhelm a country as big as the U.S. When the financial crisis hit nations such as Greece and Ireland, it dwarfed them. In the U.S., the problems occurred within the context of a $15 trillion economy and in a country that still has the trust of the world. Over the past three years, in the wake of the financial crisis, U.S. borrowing costs have gone down, not up. (Comment on this story.)

This is a powerful affirmation of America’s strengths, but the problem is that they ensure that the U.S. will not really face up to its challenges. We adjust to the crisis of the moment and move on, but the underlying cancer continues to grow, eating away at the system.

Where we are:

And it’s not just politicians and business leaders. It’s all of us. Americans simply don’t care much, know much or want to learn much about the outside world.

That means being able to start and shut down companies and hire and fire people. But it also means having a government that can help build out new technologies and infrastructure, that invests in the future and that can eliminate programs that stop working….Today, every government program and subsidy seems eternal.

In closing:

The founders loved America, but they also understood that it was a work in progress, an unfinished enterprise that would constantly be in need of change, adjustment and repair. For most of our history, we have become rich while remaining restless. Rather than resting on our laurels, we have feared getting fat and lazy. And that has been our greatest strength. In the past, worrying about decline has helped us avert that very condition. Let’s hope it does so today.

I stopped short on pulling things from the article as he goes into the founding fathers and why they would want us to keep reforming and coming up with a better system.  I agree with this.  We must adapt and remain flexible.  We must be creative and problem solvers.  We must work hard and diligently.  We must continue to be entrepreneurs.