The Maddison reading pointed out that the U.S. is being caught up to or has slowed down in terms of growth. This is intriguing to me because throughout the reading the author seemed to mostly focus on the historical facts that merely suggest that the right combination of scientific break throughs and ways of thinking lead to our Capitalist and dominant society. It is true that it took break throughs to get to where we are, and contrary to the article that suggests our best days may be behind us, i believe that we can still pull ahead of the rest of the world yet again. What I gathered was that America was started and had tons of news resources, which in part contributed to our economic growth, but mostly it was our ability to stay ahead technologically. The countries that developed better technology are the countries that have done the best in the world. That being said we have plenty of resources and capital to continue on the path we were once on.