America is bound to get poorer especially considering the scale of it manufacturing and how archaic it is in comparison to direct competitors.
What was once a strong economy relying on export when it comes on to the several sectors of the industry is now solely relying on internal market, such as Automobile sector, Energy sector, Bulding and construction system ...ect these sectors cannot match their European counterparts in terms of quality or the Chinese in terms of price, heck even the Koreans fill the gap between Eu and Chinese products, The only way to keep a lead is to with great added value product, and US manufacturing is not giving that except maybe in the defense sector (but I think this is also due to the limitations imposed on other nations and they are losing the edge here examples of recent failures : F22 /F35, LCS....ect ect)
No the US has a strong lead when it comes hightech, especially to the internet sector, this is also thanks to the monopoly they created in 90s, once all the IPs and Patents expires things might change even, here so what to do ? move on to the next big thing and always relay on products/sectors/jobs with huge added value as opposed to simple stuff because they'll never match the price of the Chinese, Indians, and even North African countries want a piece of the cake
America's economy and innovation is still strong. A combination of improved technology and other countries being able to manufacture products better as caused the auto and manufacturing sectors to shift out of the country and be replaced by service, information, and tech sector growth.
The "American's getting poorer" issue mostly comes from the increased access to credit, which enables someone who lives on a low middle class salary to live like someone with an upper middle class salary by buying things on debt that grows and grows.
When people shun credit except for education, homes, and starting business - all endeavors that result in improving/increasing income - their wealth will improve as well. The problem is getting everyone to reset to their proper level of consumption/living. It will result in people buying fewer things, which will hurt the economy a bit, for a little while. If we could endure that reset period we could be well on our way to more prosperous course for personal finance.
Btw, going into debt for a degree that DOESN'T result in income to pay for that debt plus some isn't going to help...another plague currently...