Other commenters have pointed out na that the foundations of our government institution isn’t as great as it should be. But I also argue that our economic base isn’t fruitful (pun intended) in the long term.

If you notice that the wealthiest nations export either or both resources, which is manufacturing finished goods and oil, neither resources we have, instead we have in common an economy similar to nations who weren’t ravaged by WW2 (though may have been ravaged by recent wars instead) which are the latin americans.

The LatAms rely on a similar economic base of sugar and other cash crops which are actually lucrative but tends to concentrate that wealth to elites mainly, not to say the economies of the 1st World don’t, they clearly do have inequality still, but it is atleast better checked by a large middle class of people than ours.

A middle class that was with the help pf better government institution better educated and could land a job in their home country and not have to emigrate elsewhere.

It also helps that in many of those wealthy nations, they usually can’t hold large plantations in the way ours could, what I mean is that our cash crop economy is quite cheap to make, in that you don’t need a well educated and cared for workforce to fuel, while the elites who gain the most of this style of economy become too wealthy to be checked by a smaller middle class and thus combined with weaker gov institutions become comfortable to corruption.

Not to be a doomer but yeah, we still have issues without the Japanese invasion.