The end of an era

Do you remember IT? Some people may have referred to "IT" as Ginger? Back in 2000, IT was a revolutionary new transportation device that existed only in rumors and hearsay. However, those who had seen IT had nothing but rave reviews: "...[IT] will sweep over the world and change lives." Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, said, "... you won't have to convince them to architect cities around it. It'll just happen." Predictions ranged from the insane to the absurd: IT was a hovercraft. IT was a transportation portal. IT was a stirling-engine powered car that got 200 miles per gallon. In 2001, amid great fanfare, IT finally came out: a scooter. A scooter? A really awesome scooter, right? Well - not really. Disappointment reigned. Now known as the Segway, IT has failed to change much of anything except for a few tourist attractions (although it did provide some unintentional comedy on the TV show Arrested Development). The high cost (over $5000), low speed (12 mph) and inability to travel more than 20 miles or carry anything other than the (absolutely ridiculous looking) driver make this over-hyped machine a consumer bust.
In other news, the unhyped and almost entirely ignored Tata Nano came out a few months ago. This four door car, developed in India gets around 50 mpg, can travel about 400 miles on one tank of gas at up to 60 mph, holds four people, and costs $2500. More power, more distance, more people, and less price. Which do you think is more likely to change the world?
The reason I bring up these devices is because they provide a comparison of innovations in the US with those abroad. Can you think of any "world changing" products that have come out of this country recently? The list is pretty short. The ipod is certainly new and different and fun, but I can't see it making a big impact on the way people live. Most of the medicines that we've developed recently are "improved" versions of older drugs. Even the movies that are coming out these days are mostly sequels or remakes of older movies. Computers are much faster and have more memory today, but they haven't changed in any fundamental way. The one big change that can't be ignored is the prevalence of the internet, which has changed how we get our news, how we shop, and how we learn. Other than that, there really hasn't been a whole lot going on in terms of innovation in this country. However, at the same time, it seems that the rest of the world has been exploding with new and useful products, of which the Tata Nano is just one example. Hybrid cars have made quite an impact, and most of these come from Japan, while a large percentage of the cars in Brazil run on 100% biofuel. Flat screen TVs and digital cameras come from various countries in Asia, and there are international call centers in India. Two forms of electricity generation that are almost guaranteed to grow tremendously in the coming age of carbon limits, windmills and solar power, are mostly being developed in Denmark and Germany. The list of foreign innovations in the past few years goes on and on.
Why does this matter? This matters because the US has been living on its innovativeness for the last 20 years. We've consistently been able to borrow huge sums of money from abroad because foreigners considered these loans to be wise investments - the US was the capital of innovation and economic growth. Those huge trade deficits didn't matter because the US was always able to increase productivity enough to pay them back. But the keyword here is 'was', because this might no longer be the case. And what happens if we are unable to borrow the vast sums that we've been using to support our consumer habits? That I do not know, but I do know that borrowing money usually requires an eventual, painful, payback.