It was good while it lasted. We used to think that we would always own the innovation game. Heck, American giants like Edison, Morse and the brothers Wright practically invented the modern art of innovation. Even though we were appropriately nervous when our manufacturing base began shifting overseas at the end of the last century, in our usual fog of overconfidence, we always assumed the U.S. would own the future. 

Well, we ought to be thinking of a back-up plan.