"reason that the US has slipped so badly in the last 30 years"

Actually that really is because "The Big Money" thought they could make more by NOT making physical things (but make them cheaper overseas), but by just owning 'the intellectual property' and screwing the whole world - worked for a while before China played the same game the US did in its early days - eg why Dickens travelled to the US was to make money from lectures cause the USA denied "Copyright" to anybody else in the world but US Publishers.... :-)