Let's unpack some of the historical illiteracy of Americans' ethnocentrism about innovation, which ignores a simple fact: the American genius for importing European talent:

Manhattan Project: Einstein's 1939 letter to FDR due to Edward Teller and Leo Szilard visiting him at his east end Long Island summer house. Add Eugene Wigner, Johnny von Neuman, Enrico Fermi (all Hungarian Jews exported by Hungarian Jew hatred, except the Italian Jew Fermi).

Skype: from Estonia

Print on demand e-commerce: Printify and Printful from Latvia, where I live. I'm a very happy early stage investor in the former.

Hollywood: Billy Wilder (Some Like it Hot) and Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), Peter Lorre, Kurt Weill,

Modern Photojournalism: Robert Capa, Henri Cartier Bresson, Andre Kertesz.

Google and Paypal: Sergey Brin and Max Levchin. The Russians paid to educate them and their parents. The Americans reaped the benefits.

Innovation is about who exports vs who imports talent. The number of American expats has doubled since 1999. Not a good sign.