Thread by @SteveEnglishbey

For over 30 yrs. Trump has variously been talking about the hollowing out of America's industrial base.

Here's a pretty dramatic visual of this [click on the icon in the lower left hand corner to see this]:

aei.org/carpe-diem/ani…

Regardless as to whether one loathes or idolizes Trump, I am hard pressed to see how this chart displays a positive trend for citizens of the U.S.

As one NYT writer/author wrote about some yrs. back, those countries who do not make things cannot then innovate to any real degree ,i.e., you have to make things in order to then improve [innovate] upon those things. Bottom line:

This graph shows ---is but one key example of----the fact that China is well on its way to achieving technological dominance over US. Which can happen in the near future.

Why? Well, as with any system if the goal is based upon MERIT ---meaning one that focuses on creating and mandating a HIGH LEVEL performance standard---to the exclusion of lessor goals, that kind of system will, over time, rise to dominance.

This is most certainly not simply a theoretical construct but an historical/empirical fact. See, for example, some of Thomas Sowell's research as regards those countries who create high level performers vs. those who do not.

One might ask: Steve, what the hell does all this have to do with training baseball hitters/pitchers?

My reply: Trying to understand high level performance I think entails searching at both the micro [individual] and macro [cultural] levels of analysis.

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