Business

At the outset, chapter The Quiet Crisis begins with making a point from the loss of our basketball team in the 2004 Olympics Mr. Friedman amazingly connected that event to set straight a very important conception, that even a presumably unconquerable American team can be beaten and therefore so can the indomitable U.S. economy.
The U.S. was once known for its innovation, its ambitious businessmen, the flawless American dream, and of course Hollywood. We still lead the pact in all of these fields, Hollywood is still the best, Bill Gates is still at the top, our innovation and patenting rates are highest, and to some extent the American dream is achievable to many. But the question put forth by the author is not what we are, but rather focuses more on what we used to be and how other countries and foreigners are catching up at an unimaginable speed.
Furthermore, statistics put forth by NFAP further support the authors point, these figures state that more than 65 of prime mathematics students and 60 of prime science students within States are the children of contemporary immigrants. (Anderson, 2004)
Such alarming compilations were put forth by the author to warn its generations to come to be prepared and at their best to shape up a better future and to save our American Dream.

Impact of disproportionate percent of technologically skilled labor in the U.S. versus other nations on the U.S. economy
Mr. Friedman refers to the declining number of American engineering and IT experts as The Numbers Gap. The Number gap occurs when the number of retiring professionals is higher than the rate of new recruits with equivalent expertise or qualifications, such as the case in NASA where many experts face retirement soon and there are not enough recruits to fill the empty positions.
Once this happens, the innovation and research rate will drastically fall and eventually other countries will emerge as leaders in innovation. A lot has changed since after we won the race to moon, even today many youngsters do not consider brave and ambitious people such as Neil Armstrong and Bill Gates as their idols, American children choose people like Eminem and Britney Spears as their idols, rather than brave and ambitious Americans such as Neil Armstrong and Bill Gates who are literally worshipped by foreign children. This concept according to Friedman is the Ambition Gap.
Even though many people lost their jobs in the great depression of the 21st Century, but this was mostly in the case of mid to lower level jobs, which had been outsourced to locations with not only lower cost but higher expertise. What America needs is Americans with a caliber to manage and lead people with mid to low level jobs and not the mid level employees themselves. This is precisely the opposite of what is happening as the number gap and the ambition gap are working hand in hand, instead of leaders we are creating labor.
If this continues we may even witness many more economic downturns in the future, and some even much larger than the 2007 depression. This will be a result of America losing its grip over developing nations and the degradation of its currency. Companies like Microsoft, Google, Dell, and HP would all be replaced by their Chinese versions.
Reflecting the operational functions of U.S. Corporations Their Dependency
As discussed above, U.S. Corporations are largely dependent upon foreign labor, primarily because of 3 factors
Lower costs of product development in foreign (developing) nations
Better work ethic in some foreign nations.
Lack of experts in U.S.
As of today, anything that can be digitized can be and is being outsourced. Although it is predicted that if this continues, the management authority of Americans over these mid-low level digitized jobs will be lost as soon the products will not only be Made in India, but also innovated, designed, and developed in India. And these products will carry a better or equivalent quality, and a much lower price tag than their American competitors.
Some ethical American companies, even though they comprehend this concept, cannot do anything about it unless the American public and government rises up to face the competition, but until then their hands are tied. Other companies just go with the flow and outsource their products to increase their profits or the quality of their products.