Joel Kurtzman

In this keynote, Joel Kurtzman shows that all the talk about the relative decline of the United States is not only baseless—it’s dead wrong. A widely-held misconception is that “America doesn’t make things anymore.” But the U.S. is by far the world’s dominant manufacturing power—and growing. America also has a stunning level of talent and creativity in the world’s fastest-growing economic sectors, such as biotech, pharmaceutical, computer hardware and software, and telecommunications. Due to shale and gas, America has the world’s largest energy reserves, and is more favorably endowed than even the Middle East. Finally, America has an unprecedented amount of capital now idle—approximately $4.4 trillion, a sum that is about $1 trillion larger than the German economy, the world’s fourth largest. Together, these forces will transform the United States. In this positive, buoyant talk, Kurtzman provides inspiration for the business community and insight for the investors. When we fully grasp the opportunities in the U.S., he says, prosperity will return—and much faster than we now think possible.