Enriquez - The Untied States of America

Table of Contents

TO
Mary,
Diana,
and
Nico,
WHO SHARE THE ADVENTURE ...

Often do the spirits
Of great events stride on before the events
And in to-day already walks to-morrow.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (trans.), THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN (ACTV, SCENE 1)

Juan Enriquezs new offering might just be the most important book of the decade. For those of us old enough to remember stars being added to the American flagand for those who have lived their whole lives under fifty starsThe Untied States of America is a warning that a nations life cycle is a constantly evolving process. Juan enables us to visualize more, or fewer, stars on the most visual icon of nationhood, our flag. Brilliantly researched, Juans unique writing style enables the reader to easily consume a constant stream of interesting and reinforcing data. Like his first book, As the Future Catches You, this is a must-read for all Americans from red and blue states and for policymakers on both sides of the aisle. Interesting, factual, scary, and entertainingdont miss the opportunity to see our future, read this book.

RUSS HOWARD, Brigadier General, U.S. Army (retired)

In his thoroughly researched and documented exploration of the rapid changes in American society in an increasingly competitive and globalized world, Juan Enriquez makes connections and observations that elude other intellectuals of our day. Enriquez deploys a unique prose style filled with multiple fonts, headlines, and graphics that make this provocative essay especially accessible and handy for contemporary hyper-multitasking readers.

PAULA STERN, U.S. trade representative and member of the Clinton Administration Cabinet

Juan Enriquez delves into the social gaps caused by ethnic discrimination and inequality of wealth, highlighting the unspoken fissures that sooner or later could threaten the unity of the United States or Mexico. By reminding us that the very existence of these nations cannot be taken for granted, this book invites reflection on why citizens must work to keep them whole.

OSCAR ARIAS, former president of Costa Rica,winner of the Nobel Prize

Having had my professional geography dramatically altered by Asthe Future Catches You, I could hardly imagine Juan Enriquez doing it again. He has with The Untied States of America. Priority number one for all of us these days, from the White House to Main Street to pillow talk about our lives and careers, is thinking deeply about uncomfortable truths and possibilities. I guarantee that Untied will bring on a big case of the intellectual fidgets and provoke deep thought.... It is a masterpiece.

TOM PETERS

If you think you know North America then you need to read this book. You will learn things that shed a fresh light on who we are and what are the choices for our continent. Freshly written, provocative, and informative.

SENATOR BILL BRADLEY

With an outsiders eye and an insiders knowledge, Enriquez is a modern-day de Tocqueville, carefully observing daily customs and mores in a country that is increasingly divided between those who understand and embrace the future and those that seek to maintain yesterdays status quo. This is the best book I have seen on what could happen if we do not immediately address the growing divisions within our society.

J. CRAIG VENTER, sequenced the human genome in 2001,cofounder of Synthetic Genomics, Inc.

This is a surprising book, different in format than any you are likely to see. Enriquez has an important message: that nations are always beset with pressures from both outside and within, while history teaches that invariably they do not survive in their original form or size. He convincingly does not exempt the United States. But he presents his arguments with great originality in staccato form, with an astonishingly wide range of data, quotes, and speculation; in sum, persuasive, thought-provoking, and, ultimately, deeply unsettling.

EUGENE B. SKOLNIKOFF, professor of political science, MIT

A cold shower of wit and wisdom, revealing the power of nonparadigmatic thinking.

GEORGE LODGE, Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo professor ofbusiness administration, emeritus, Harvard Business School

INTRODUCTION

UN-TIED (un tied),v.t. 1. To loosen or unfasten. 2. To free from restraint. 3. A situation resulting from the uncomfortable feeling, beginning in 2000 and intensifying in 2004, that many people from large chunks of the country dont understand their fellow citizens and vice versa. 4. The result when people, regions, companies, and industries on the cutting edgethe sources of innovation, the value adders who pay taxeslook at the laggards and ask themselves: whats in it for me, why am I supporting those bums? 5. A process influenced by an accelerated Darwinian system when the small untie from large, clumsy confederations, resulting in new countries that can succeed because of open borders, free trade, universal human rights, democracy, and science. 6. The historical fact of life in much of the worldEurope, Asia, Africaas gaggles of new nations form and disband. 7. The subject of a book published in 2005 by Juan Enriquez focusing on the untying phenomenon, with a larger purpose of starting a dialogue between citizens about what people who love their country should think about and do to prevent untying. Part I provides the sense of the enormous social, political, and economic pressures facing America and its neighbors and asks if a country can be like a supermarket brand that no longer sells; Part II looks at a few bills past due, the interest on which America has been accumulating for centuries; Part III looks at the lessons to be learned from the wider world, specifically Europe, Canada, and Latin America. It also poses the startling question of So what?the consequence to Americashould it careabout countries that collapse as they fail to keep up with the economic driving force of todays worldknowledge.

PART ONE

HOW DARE YOU...

WE WOULD RATHER BE RUINEDTHAN CHANGED...

W. H . Auden

Every week you read about another country falling apart.

Sometimes rich countries, sometimes the most miserable places on earth.

Countries, like marriages, companies, and people,Oft reach a break point, and split up or die.

We watch as it happens to others, but we rarely ask ourselves...

Could it ever happen here?

Because most of us truly love the country we live in.

Yet country after country disappears, splits, secedes.

Turns out, regardless of pledges, nations are divisible.

But surely, you might argue, not the U.S.; after all, it is a hyperpower.

But sometimes instead of just looking at what is today...

We might want to look at what could be tomorrow.

And if one were dispassionately to dissect current U.S. trends, one might have a few sleepless nights...

Start with the U.S. current account deficit...

In 2004, if you laid enough $1,000 bills end to end to cover the $617 billion deficit, you could circle the earth about 2.4 times.1

Pete Peterson, not exactly a radical, was Richard Nixons secretary of commerce. He has been charging around the country for years, playing Paul Revere.