Ross Douthat on the "awful aughties." He cites Jim Manzi's prescription for moving America to a brighter and more competitive future:

Unwind the partnerships forged between Big Business and Big Government in the wake of the 2008 crash; seek financial regulations that “contain busts,” by segregating high-risk transactions from lower-risk enterprises; deregulate the public school system, to let a thousand charter schools and start-ups bloom; and shift our immigration policy away from low-skilled immigration, and toward the recruitment of high-skilled émigrés from around the globe.

Read the whole thing. Douthat is smart, reasonable and just right of center.

Not a bad place to be.