单选题
The belief that America is losing its economic edge is pervasive. Americans are more pessimistic about their country"s prospects than at any point since Gallup, a polling firm, first started asking them in 1959. The recession may gradually be receding, the worry goes, but long-ignored obstructions to growth will stumble the recovery and prevent future generations from achieving the American dream.
The misgivings are easy to understand. Growth is sluggish, unemployment is high and investors are wary. America"s public debt is approaching $17 trillion, more than 100% of GDP, and it has been growing fast. Much of this stems from the temporary effects of the recession, but it will get worse rather than better. On the current social
trajectory
(轨迹), the soaring costs of Medicare and Medicaid, the government"s health care schemes for the old and the poor respectively, along with Social Security, the state pension scheme, will consume all federal revenues within a generation, leaving nothing for anything else.
"Is this a country that can still get big things done?" asked the head of the US Chamber of Commerce, a business lobby, in January. On every count, despite glaring problems, the outlook is less bleak than the pessimists maintain.
That is partly because they overstate their case. For instance, rumours of the death of American innovation are exaggerated: the country is spending as much of its output on R&D as it ever has, and continues to come up with dramatic breakthroughs. It still towers over emerging giants in crucial matters such as the quality of its research universities and respect for intellectual-property rights. And another reason for cheer is that no one is waiting for the federal government to fix the economy. At the regional and local level America is already reforming and innovating vigorously.
Local officials are competing viciously to lure migrants and investment. They are using every imaginable temptation, from scrapping income tax to building more bike paths. But they are also embarking on far-reaching reforms. Education, for example, is being turned upside down in the most comprehensive overhaul in living memory. On infrastructure, mayors and governors are grasping the nettle Congress will not, by coming up with new funding mechanisms.
So America"s competitive recovery is not as strong as it should be, and it will remain overshadowed by its shaky public finances. But it is real. What is unfolding around the country offers a model for reform at the national level.
单选题
What does the study conducted by Gallup show according to the passage?