Another debatable development is the increasing reliance of the US on official capital inflows, i.e. portfolio investments by foreign central banks and treasury departments, relative to private capital inflows. Beside these factors, several emerging markets focus on an export led growth strategy, e.g. by keeping their exchange rates very competitive.
By the time that the United States entered World War II, the median level of education for a seventeen-year-old was a high-school diploma - an accomplishment that set us apart from other countries. I cannot dismiss the notion that we can learn something from that period and perhaps from other countries. Still, I realize that the world was different from today in many ways.