It is my contention that the American economic miracle of the 20th Century was built on a foundation of two primary underpinnings:
1) Low energy costs
2) Low governmental regulation
Obama actively undermined both. In fact, I would maintain that much of the anemic recovery over his 8 years was because of fracking of natural gas and oil, and happened in spite of his efforts, not because of them.
That is two of the things we had/have, but there are others not least of which is geography. Our geography has given our country many advantages that no amount of industry can make up for. Some - like the Japanese - tried, and saw that being great takes more than your own will power.
You are 100% correct.
One other bit though. Every single sector of the big three that runs our economy have been under constant pressure from this government. That would be Farming, Timber Industry and Mining-oil being the big one.
We have a businessman president who can see that and is trying to correct it.