Is this just a PR piece for Elon Musk?
As for the title, we already are going to fall behind, the only question is how far are we going to allow ourselves to fall behind before we change our economic policies. Or alternatively, how far can we fall behind before American hegemony becomes impotent and can be completely ignored by the rest of the world?
Unfortunately I think we may just keep blindly worshiping all the worst aspects of capitalism until complete collapse. Gen Y and Z may have changing thoughts about it, but im not sure it will add up enough to change the geriatric political landscape for another 2 decades, by which time the US will have lost all its leverage to do anything but dog everyone else's footsteps trying to pick up scraps.
American hegemony is already in the process of collapsing. It is not about preventing it any more, only about how quickly America chooses to halt it, or not. I'm betting not.