The United States' economic performance in the world economy is compared with that of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom (the Summit 7 countries). Competitiveness is assessed by four economic indicators: standard of living, trade, manufacturing productivity, and investment. The United States continues to outinvest the other Summit 7 countries only because the U.S. gross domestic product is so much higher than any other individual country's. The other countries have higher savings rates than the United States. Although the United States invests more in education, there is a performance gap. High dropout rates, inadequately prepared graduates, and the shortage of trained scientists will have severe ramifications for future U.S. industry. U.S. levels of spending for education as a percent of GDP have declined slightly since 1972. Over the past 2 decades, U.S. manufacturing productivity has declined relative to the other Summit 7 countries' average. In 1989, for the first time since 1981, U.S. manufactured exports grew more rapidly than the average of the other Summit 7 countries. The U.S. standard of living continued to decline. Although the United States still has a higher standard of living than the other Summit 7 average, its standard of living has, on average, not grown as rapidly as that of the rest. Since 1972, the U.S. standard of living has grown by 34 percent. The other Summit 7 countries averaged a 50 percent increase over the same period. (CML)