America's Ivy League are still turning out plentiful world class science and engineering people, compared to the rest of the world. This is the reason that the Chinese want to get their best people into US universities.
As with so much in the US though, this merely highlights the haves- and have-nots.
The US has some of the very best healthcare in the world. Real cutting-edge treatments... If you can afford them.
For everyone else, you get squat. Or medicare. Maybe. Depending on the incumbent president.
Likewise, the fact that Ivy League universities are undoubtedly excellent doesn't change the fact that the educational options for the majority of Americans have declined over recent decades, both in affordability/accessibility as well as in standards. Too many colleges spend too much on hand-egg and not enough on teaching.
America's best is very good indeed, but it lacks depth.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
