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Feudalism is the least of our worries. What are the Chinese doing with all that steel and concrete they're buying? What are they doing with all those engineers they produce in their schools (3 to 4X more than the US, even when adjusted for population)? Why do they have a fledgling space program, and we have neglected ours for 30 years?

We can't afford to be arrogant. Civilizations *do* fall as well as rise. If we think we're going to run a first world country on Wal-Mart greeters and masseuses; if we think that spreading our forces all over the globe for "nation-building," and that an *inefficient,* *aging* and *clunky* defense industry are all going to keep us from being a plum ripe for the picking, we're delusional.

Almost fifty years ago, President Eisenhower built the interstate highway system *for national defense.* (Suburbia was an unintended consequence.) In the 1960s, we had a space program *for the national defense.* In that same era, we loaned college money to future teachers under a program whose original name was the National *Defense* Student Loan (later changed to "Direct" to salve the consciences of those against the Vietnam War.) We saw an educated populace as a *national security priority.*

Similarly, we need to treat engineering as a high priority issue of national security/defense. Same thing with manufacturing capabilities. But I fear we won't see it until it's too late.