So please tell me what's wrong, why it needs to be changed and why it's been fundamental.
The satellite, cellular and internet technology that makes profits possible across a variety of sectors was initially developed under the Cold War Pentagon and NASA budgets, at places like MIT and Stanford. If this is too abstract for you, imagine the technology required to put a man on the moon or a space rover on mars. This technology was developed by the state sector and handed to the private sector so they could develop it commercially and profit from it. (Glenn Beck doesn't mention stuff like this, but the real surprise is that he has listeners who don't notice.
The Republican Party, which was captured by concentrated wealth, took a generation of well-meaning but under-educated conservative Americans and basically ******* lied to them. -and they also agitated them using the culture war so that these well meaning patriots would mistrust any liberal who tried to show them where (say) satellite technology came from (and who profits from it). That is, John Galt is no longer persecuted by government, like he was in the 30s and 40s, rather, he has turned government into his private subsidy and bailout machine. But, see, John Galt ain't stupid because he pays into the Republican message machine to lie about the fact that he not only profits from government, but owns it. Until we as a nation find a way to rescue conservative voters from this massive cloud of bullshit, we will continue to misread the fundamental problems facing America)
But it doesn't stop there. Government has provided more to the private sector than most people will ever realize. Indeed, research the relationship between government, Boeing and commercial aviation. Research the commercial benefits of the interstate system, or the fact that the Pentagon stabilizes global supply chains so that raw material, products, and capital can flow around the globe more efficiently.
When you're at it, research how dependent the southwest is on the Hoover Dam ... or the energy and water that FDR brought to parts of the rural south.
Point is that much of our economy depends on a partnership
between government and the private sector. This is why all large corporations open large lobbying offices in Washington DC, so they can gain access to the public's considerable financial resources.
In the fifties and sixties, great Conservative centrists like Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon understood government's role in feeding technology and infrastructure to the private sector.
Reagan also understood government's role as part of the solution, but he played a very devious game. He unleashed a movement which would seek out the dumbest Americans in order to convince them that government did nothing to help profit. He did this to put downward pressure on the taxes of his wealthy and corporate donors. He wanted corporations to continue to enjoy government's fruits, but he didn't want them to have to pay for it. This is what lead to an endless cycle of growing and crippling deficits.
30 years of anti-government propaganda has destroyed government's ability to effectively support technological development, education and industrial infrastructure - or provide needed oversight in the financial sector. As a result, we have crumbling schools and bridges punctuated by terminal bailouts of the corporate crooks who own both parties. Oh, and China is eating our lunch as the US economy is being hollowed out by special interest monopolies in health care and energy. Rather than innovating and lowering prices, we have seen the opposite. Corporations now spend more on election funding & lobbying rather than R&D. Senators don't serve the common man; rather, they are just biding their time until them can move on to lucrative lobbying career. This is why Newt Gingrich was hired by Fannie/Freddie . . . he gave them
access to lawmakers.
Ronald Reagan took the government which defeated the Nazis, put a man on the moon, and built the world's greatest infrastructure ... and he
convinced morons that this same government couldn't run a laundromat (but it could rebuild the Arab world in our image). Again, well meaning conservative voters didn't see the contradiction, that is, they can't address the problem because they are kept in such a fog. "Get your government hands off my medicare"
Reagan made government so weak and corrupt that it was no match for the financial influence of the corporations which now own it.
What's wrong with the USA you say? The Republicans have raised a generation of voters to believe that government plays no role in economic growth.This great nation was built by a partnership between government and the private sector. The Republicans destroyed one half of that necessary partnership. The monopolies are safely in place and the game is over.