Edward N. Luttwak

America could be a Third World country by the year 2020, Edward N. Luttwak predicts in the following viewpoint, adapted from his book The Endangered American Dream. Luttwak maintains that a linear forecast of gross national product per person by that year shows German and Japanese productivity surpassing that of America by a wide margin. The author presents statistics and analysis of what he calls the “Third-Worldization” of America—the gap between rich and poor that is characteristic of Third World nations. Luttwak, the author of numerous works on America and international politics, is director of Geo-Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a foreign policy think tank in Washington, D.C.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How seriously impoverished could America become, in Luttwak’s...