Empires come, empires go.

It started with Egyptians where modern civilization all began. They blew it.

The power moved around the world like an Olympian torch. It touched old Babylon; Greece; Rome; England; …; in no special order until it became the time for Americans. Yes, we are living in the American empire-the indisputable all powerful nation whom when its president sneezes, the world awakes.

Think about it: knowledge has always correlated with economic power. In the time of the Pharaohs, we knew they had the best philosophers. Most of the wisest men were in Egypt. They had technology and were the best farmers. Around that River Nile, they invented some of the best ideas on geometry in their quest to conquer hunger.

We had the Greeks. Remember the Aristotle, The Socrates and all those big names they taught us in Philosophy courses in first year of college (at least in Nigeria). These legends created knowledge and made Greek symbols universal means of mathematical communication.

In the golden decades of industrial revolution, there were the Oxford and Cambridge.  Those good days, British lads were encouraged to study science, medicine and engineering. Soon afterwards, they had better ideas. They started transforming the best British schools to the seat of Law and Philosophy. And the industrial revolution lost steam.

Finally, the torch went to Americans. But it was not an accident. Right from independence in 1776 when American patriots defeated the British, they had ambitions. Immediately, the Yankees adopted and implemented policies that would take them to that glory- to become the shining city on the hill and most prosperous nation on earth.

While researching my recent book last year, I noticed that the Scottish economist Adam Smith had proposed for the Americans to focus on raw materials and agriculture. He was of the opinion and based on the fact that America was just a plantation then, that the US had that nonsense comparative advantage to be a leader in commodity. Hell No, the Americans refused.

Rather, they went ahead and created the best innovation engine in the world through inventing capitalism on the tripod of citizens, business and governments. They knew that without technology, there is no competition and to overtake the British, they pushed resources into technology creation and infrastructural development.  While not, this is a country of doers; they had the future of mankind in their hands.

They created technologies after technology; feat after feat. We had the transistor and Bells Lab was nothing but innovation pipeline. Their universities began to innovate. Johns Hopkins introduced the first graduate school in US. It also modernized medical study. Harvard invented business education.

Their national labs were on the move. The citizens had this can do attitude. The government was dreaming big. America was running, never walking. And science was really cool to most of their lads.

But shortly after the death of President Kennedy whose vision that man must set foot on the moon was accomplished in late 1960s, America went into partial hibernation. Those same theories they rejected from Adam Smith, they now embraced them.   And lawyers and bankers became the highest paid in this democracy. Engineers dare not because they lose jobs as gamblers playing in Las Vegas casinos. Engineering was not really fun anymore because it gives fairly average pay.

People, we still have the national labs and the research institutes in US, but the urgency and energy that existed in the good old days has waned. Either it is the Congress or the trade policies or the transcending attitude of piling debts by the citizens, many things have changed.

For me the greatest challenge came with the whole idea of creating shareholders value and building wealth at Wall Street. The worship of Wall Street was fundamental in thinking short time and eroding the brutal pragmatism that existed in some of the policies and directions both government and firms took early in the life of America.

Why not, the leaders are mainly lawyers, few are engineers and scientists; scenario very close to the end of the industrial revolution where law was enshrined as the greatest of profession by the British. From commerce to culture, these modern leaders have reinvented America.

And we have got celebrities that speak to government though they could not finish high school. Kids do not know the technology titans and legends like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Page, Brin, Bill Joy, Michael Dell; they are ordinary people. Rather, they worship the likes of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and co.

Ironically, the world does not harbor a vacuum. The US has lost steam; someone has to fill the void. After all, it was exactly the same thing they did to Britain. In that new place Bill Gates is seen as a demi-god because he created not a company, but an industry. Without Mr Gates, there will be no IT industry.

Welcome the Chinese. It is very interesting. The very nation that invented transistor and integrated circuit now imports nearly all its major computer hardware from China.  That nation is America. The storied IBM ‘innovated’ and moved into services and sold to Lenovo.  IBM would not have done that if there is no Wall Street pressure. That is why what matter is the firm and not the nation.

And the whole argument that when you outsource, you create better paying jobs in America could make sense, but there are strategic positions that cannot be replaced. Manufacturing, producing, assembling real things in America was vital to developing a generation of technical leaders that improved upon those processes. When those processes are outsourced, Americans lose that edge because many new minds never get to work on them. They lose competitive edge. No wonder, China was able to shrink a century old of innovation into about 20 years. How? US gave them all, easily and freely and prevented their own citizens from advancing.

Understand this: the fact that there are few plants where many boys could do internship on computer assembly in US means many will never experience the real thing. Compared to their colleagues in China, they are disadvantaged in this area for the next generation innovation.

These observations are intangibles and cannot be replicated.  I have estimated that America loses $100b in form of these intangibles yearly as its companies continue to outsource and globalize while denying the experience opportunity to new generation of Americans.

Why not? You will read some analysis promoting service industry, saying that it employs more people than the manufacturing sector.  But nations do not exist for creating today’s job. You can create 10 jobs by trading on silica, the sand that is used to make microprocessor. And that silica can sell for $1. The person that makes that microprocessor can have a factor of 2000 profit on it. Not having the plants at home will hurt this nation.

It is not a permanent problem. America is still the world leader. But it has lost its total independence in leadership to act because of unusual kind of politics. Its military power is nothing but its economic power. Its dollar is nothing but its economy. Any day it loses this economic power, it will lose all.

This nation invented solar energy technology, but now China dominates that in the world. This shows that inventing an idea without leading the innovation does not make much sense. While America gives us great technologies at near zero benefits, it focuses on services where they get marginally nothing. All we read today is emphasis on services, without anyone understanding that without factories, there is no service.

Africa should learn some key issues from what has put America at the point of losing the torch to China. In the last few decades, America has pursued a system of consumerism, where the more the citizens can consume, the better is the country. I was shocked when I came to the country as I saw real efforts by governments to entice people to buy, spend, and buy and spend without actually encouraging them to save. The problem is that there is a culture where kids like malls over libraries, in most cases and can spend a whole day in malls shopping with money they do not have.

This contrasts to the old America where production was seen as a pathway to wealth and prosperity. I recalled an article I wrote as an undergraduate student for a topical issue in a local radio station. That was in 1998, and I was Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of FUTO Bubbles- a campus newsmagazine I founded in college. I was naïve them, but I articulated a case that production over consumption will always result to a great nation.

While American capitalism is excellent, it cannot exist without regulation. The US has lost so much steam through the boom and bust as it tends to hurt them more whenever it happens. Lack of strong regulation hurts US than it helps them. Without regulation, you accumulate cents, but when there are problems, you lose dollars.

Worse still, the nation has this illusion that packing debt in dollars has no major consequences. After all, they control the dollar. Unfortunately, if the global currency changes from dollar, US could be under severe stress. It is not a great strategy to allow China to mortgage the future of your kids. It is bad for national security and financial strength.

In all and all, I have wished I can manage a ministry in Africa. Africa has the best window to develop now as I predict within twenty years, US will get out of many of the free trade agreements it has entered. This trade has made US a nation of companies and not of country as it benefits its firms and not the country in most cases.

Those treaties have burnt America badly as we all know free trade is not a win-win. Then it will be very difficult to trade with US. Unfortunately, it may not matter much as China will be the centre of the universe then.

We love America because it does one thing to Africa no nation has ever done: it trains the highest pool of Africa’s best leaders. From Nnamdi to Nkrumah to Sirleaf, America has offered Africa a lot and we want US to continue to lead the world because it pays us most. Go to Harvard, MIT and their best schools and you will be amazed on the number of Africans on scholarships. In Britain, you must pay; in US, your brain buys you a scholarship. That is why we want US to do well because we get most out of it.