http://www.nber.org/papers/w18315
>Even if innovation were to continue into the future at the rate of the two decades before 2007, the U.S. faces six headwinds that are in the process of dragging long-term growth to half or less of the 1.9 percent annual rate experienced between 1860 and 2007. These include demography, education, inequality, globalization, energy/environment, and the overhang of consumer and government debt. A provocative "exercise in subtraction" suggests that future growth in consumption per capita for the bottom 99 percent of the income distribution could fall below 0.5 percent per year for an extended period of decades.
A more accurate statistic would be median disposable income, as a proxy for general economic self-determination - and that's been on a steady downward slope since the 1970s.
The tragedy is that there's plenty of physical work that could be done, outside the pointless confines of Web 2.0. The US and the rest of the West needs better energy distribution grids, smart everything, renewable power, and mitigation against climate change.
A lot of the existing infrastructure, including surface transport, is barely fit for purpose. Improved education at all levels is an easy win. And so on...
None of this is likely to happen within current economic and political narratives. So yes - the US and the West do not have a bright future, unless the narratives change.