As outstanding analysis
I have to ask--given America's politics, economics, and a higher education system that leaves vast swaths of the population untouched--was it inevitable that we'd arrive at our current situation? Personally, I think a convincing argument could be made in the affirmative, in which case I'd expect it's *far* too late in the game to think in terms of correction. In other words, America had its run, and it failed.