I have said many times before that one of the most valuable, unique assets our nation has is the network of universities. Despite tuition hikes, the opportunities to learn are mind-boggling for those with the desire. Sadly, the desire is what we are lacking. How can we innovate without a critical mass of people who want to learn by building on each others knowledge?

There are barriers to any significant change, and it seems ironic that they exist because of the strength of the corporatist state. The concentration of wealth and power has a stranglehold that has gotten much worse over just the last few decades. Just as an example, how else is it that after all the go-go of the rise of the internet that most of us get our internet service from AT&T, Time Warner or some other behemoth that has been around for a long time? We accept the dominance of certain corporate institutions.

Was I alone in thinking that the main objective of so many “innovators” of the last tech boom was to score an IPO so they could cash it in? (and I got a slightly sickly feeling from it)

I do think we are at the point where we must ask the question you pose at the end, when you state:

“Finally, it might just be too late for America, especially when 99% of Americans don’t control what we own and our economy is based on consuming more than producing…”

Is it too late for this country? Or really, where does an honest answer to the question leave us? I doubt our ability to even answer the question honestly anymore, because too many in the USA are locked into ideas of their own superiority. This, despite so much evidence to the contrary.

Yeah, I think it is too late for this country as we know it. As of yet, I don’t see the bravery necessary to invoke the socioeconomic shifts we will need. It’s the concentration of wealth and the prevailing mentality that accepts it as normal… we will choke on it.

The next “innovations” that bring about the nation we want will be in the political arena. If we can handle it.