A history of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap,
Z3 b" I3 F% |$ d8 _/ ~) t1 I but, if properly handling, it may become a driving force. When __1__
4 T( l( h. L5 J2 U( m& x( N; |$ l the United States entered just such a glowing period after the end of
6 ]! X& O, D4 _: I5 ~$ M$ L; H- H the Second World War, it had a market eight times larger than any other
1 Q9 G1 T o1 s- b9 q' T$ Z; j competitor, given its industries unparalleled economies of scale. Its __2__9 X/ V3 k& O p, R l, v/ R! F
scientists were the world’s best, its workers the most skilled. America
% f8 |+ o$ c" O0 o$ q% K and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans9 o/ N# d* O5 Z1 \: Q
and Asians whose economies that the war had destroyed. __3__
4 t2 I: J2 ^* p9 p It was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed as
* d7 U) Z: _! B3 z$ W* ]. P other countries grew richer. Just as inevitably, the retreat from
8 g/ z u$ [$ ]5 v+ h predominance proved painful. By the mid-1980s Americans found __4__
" L# b& p8 l1 k/ {' T themselves at a loss over their fading industrial competition. Some __5__
% y+ g) P" W; f5 w huge American industries, such as consumer electronic, had shrunk __6__
8 [* l0 @& Y, K5 u- t& P+ Z or vanished in the face of foreign competition. Foreign-made cars" e% y0 e8 l1 v$ _1 w: p! T
and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market and America’s
( s- B5 Z; Q, V machine-tool industry was on the rope. For a while it looked as __7__
8 g; F8 \$ }4 |9 ~ q. {" P* S though the making of semiconductors, which America had sat at the __8__5 N9 D9 n) y' {% V' E' |
heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty.
: E9 a: d( I0 \( p All of this caused a crisis of confidence. Americans stopped talking& [( a5 H+ x1 h/ P8 u2 \9 W; |
prosperity for grant. They began to believe that their way of doing __9__& t7 [" N& H1 P/ j& W
business was failing, and that their incomes would therefore shortly
/ V1 v: y c5 v4 l- M; [0 L begin to fall as well. The mid-1980 brought one inquiry after __10__
' ]& M: A) `, g1 U0 b another into the causes of America’s industrial decline. Their sometimes+ P+ w7 _! d7 d" m" a1 r F0 @! E: C
sensational findings were filled with warnings about growing competition# w2 A+ V) L) l0 \7 R$ @
from overseas |