Better, Stronger, Faster: The Myth of American Decline and the Rise of a New Economy by Dan Gross discusses how this time is an era of reconstruction and transformation. After 2009, business investment, exports, auto sales, retail and the consumer savings rate grew incrementally. The economy itself is growing as is the population from 300 million people to 313 million now. This growing population will fuel the demand for goods and services.
Gross explains how auto engineering is focused on building more efficient combustion engines, natural gas, and electric vehicles. The newer autos have a better management of auto idling in traffic so less energy is wasted. Retailers are increasingly vacating space to foreign tenants. Walmart saved huge amounts of money on energy by lowering delivery costs. The new software monitors existing delivery routes more scientifically. More fuel efficient vehicles are another factor in the effort to save money.
Consumers are becoming more efficient in breaking the link between debt and excess consumption according to Gross. New auto services, such as Zip Car, are evolving. With Zip Car, consumers can rent a car for $8.75 an hour on weekdays and $13.75 an hour on weekends. They don't pay for gas or insurance and they certainly don't pay interest on auto loans.
The United States now exports fuel, natural gas, ferrous scrap, and turbine engines. Increasingly, the internet is becoming a platform for new businesses and the expansion of existing ones. Soybeans are the biggest export from the U.S. to China.
Housing although weak right now is expected to boom due to the growing increases in the U. S. and global population according to the author. The challenge right now is to deplete the existing surplus stock of housing. Experts believe that this will happen within the next few years.
Exports of U.S. education have been growing with the migration of training and development to overseas locations and increased use of the internet. The export of accounting knowhow continues to strengthen the infrastructure of municipal accounting systems globally, as well as business of every kind overseas.
Better, Stronger, Faster is an important treatise which sets forth the direction the United States is headed in the global economy. Every businessperson, government employee, educator, college student, and parent should read this book to find out what is working in the new global economy.
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