The problem may not be that we are innovating less well than we used to, or have lost our appetite for imaging our surroundings and selves in a new way.

FORBES: Four Ways Tech Remakes Its Business - and Yours

Some gas companies are responding to this threat to production by innovating ways to frack with less water use.

FORBES: Can No-Water Fracking Quiet Critics?

It has been good at responding to events, less so at innovating or at dealing with Congress, where it lacks a majority.

ECONOMIST: Mexico