Classic elitism masquerading as insight. Complaints about parking near Harvard passed off as proof of America's decline, and hand-wringing over chip sales as if who profits changes anything for ordinary Americans. The obsession with framing everything as US vs China blinds these writers to the obvious: what matters for Americans is wages, housing, and healthcare, not whether elites can take a train to Harvard or whether Beijing builds more bridges. A strong China, like a strong Japan or Germany, is not a threat to ordinary Americans. The bizarre part is watching people recycle the same cracked narratives until they've forgotten what everyday life even looks like.

I've never been near Harvard. Is developing infrastructure near Harvard unusually difficult, compared to the rest of the US?