What is America good at? There's a line in a Neal Stephenson novel that says Americans do just two things really well--software design and pizza delivery. But is that the whole story? Here's my semi-serious list of the best and worst of US production. Feel free to disagree or add. We'll start with the down side, the things that the US does relatively badly.

 

1. Cola drinks! Yes, shockingly enough, foreign cola is often superior, probably because it contains real sugar rather than corn syrup. Don't believe me? Try imported Mexican Coke.

 

2. Salads. It is possible to find good salads in the US, but you have to hunt for them. The whole concept of "salad dressing" in America is an abomination.

 

3. Coffee. Coffee has had a supposed renaissance in the US. Whereas it used to be a vile, bitter, watery brew made from the world's cheapest beans, now there is a Starbucks or other shop on every corner serving up something supposedly made from better beans. The results are mixed. A Starbucks latte is OK as milk; it's borderline worthless as coffee. Good coffee certainly exists, but again, you have to hunt for it. One is tempted to conclude that Americans like the idea of coffee more than coffee itself.

 

4. Small, fuel efficient cars. Oddly enough, American companies are perfectly capable of making good small cars in other markets. So this is a marketing failure more than a technical one or may have something to do with the burden of providing health care costs. US makers have shied away from low margin production, thinking they needed to go for the killer margins provided by trucks and SUV's. I’m not completely pessimistic about US carmakers, but we do seem to have come down some from our glory days. At the head of this post is a 2008 photo of Fisher Body Plant #21. Built to make Buick and Cadillac bodies for General Motors, it was closed in 1991.

 

5. Health care. The care itself is good to excellent, world class for those who can afford the best. But of course most Americans can't. More people probably could--IF thirty-five percent of all health care expenditures did not go to pay for claims processing and insurance company margins. Stupid.

 

6. Electricity generation and distribution. We rely on coal and have built many plants whose total energy efficiency is less than 35%. Yo! As for reliability, the Innocents have lived recently in Cyprus and in Turkey. Did we have more power outages in those places than here in Oregon? Naw. About the same. At this point we may be seeing a major push to build alternative energy infrastructure in the US. We certainly need it as we are behind much of the world in this area.

 

7. Internet connection speed. Another infrastructure issue. Canada is about 3 times faster. Sweden and Finland are 9-10 times faster. Korea is 20 times faster; Japan is 30 times faster. Sad.

 

Well, that was ugly, but what about the flip side? What does America do particularly well?

 

1. Pizza. Some of it may be bad for you, but there are a variety of styles, with a lot of creativity among the makers, all adding up to something good for every taste. As in the old song, it's even good cold in the morning. Pizza in the rest of the world is just a footnote.

 

2. Ethnic food in general. Every kind you can imagine. Sure, some of it is junk food, but most isn't. There's a huge variety and it's very often very good; often enough it is inexpensive as well. Few other countries have anything like this richness.

 

3. Smart traffic lights. Sensors adjust the light intervals to what's actually happening in terms of traffic flow. Superior systems technology.

 

4. Music, film and drama. The US is not alone in being good at these things, but we have at least our share of world class actors, singers, bands, producers and directors.

 

5. Software. Again we are not completely alone in being good at this and yes, some of our software is crap. But we continue to innovate; the field is alive with unexpected transformations.

 

6. Milkshakes.

 

7. Veterinary care. SHOULD we spend $8 or $9 billion a year on veterinary care? I don't know. But we do and we get excellent quality service for it.

 

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