We can still mess it up. We can overregulate business and industry, choking off that prosperity. Or we can regulate in the wrong way. For example, if we want to reduce air pollution, we can tie the hands of those facing regulation by telling them exactly how they have to do it. Or we can just give them a target and let them figure out the best way to reduce emissions.
Regulators can get it wrong.
But the market system seldom does. We can fail to fund our future. Right now, the United States lives largely on the kindness of strangers. We use foreigners' savings to invest in our industry while we spend our money on personal wants. The most critical way we can mess up our economic future is to back away from the current drive to improve our public schools.