Two recent reports, one from the World Economic Forum and one from Duke University, show that an ongoing trend of the United States being marginalized in the technical arena has gotten worse.

The World Economic Forum reported that the U.S. is no longer number one in information technology integration. More surprising, Uncle Sam slipped from first place all the way to seventh place. Other countries have more successfully made the transition to wireless and other modern technologies while the U.S. is still heavily dependent on its well-built but dated land-based infrastructure.

While that fact may not concern many people, the Duke University report may. It warned that China is “racing ahead of the United States and India … in its ability to perform basic research.” The report ends with a warning that the U.S. needs to significantly increase its investment in research.

There is also an underlying reality that some of the success the U.S. enjoys in the technology field today is a result of immigration from those countries. The Duke report adds that the U.S. “cannot continue to depend on India and China to supply [graduates and post-graduates]. As their economies improve, it will be increasingly lucrative for students to return home.”

The trend of other countries outpacing the U.S. technologically is gaining momentum. In 2004, for the first time in history, China outsold the U.S. in the information technology field. U.S. participants were decimated in the 2006 annual acmInternational Collegiate Programming contest, another area where the U.S. once dominated.

Though the U.S. technology industry is still growing, its leadership position is gone—and it isn’t coming back. In accordance with biblical prophecy, the U.S. is losing its vaunted status in one area after another, being overtaken by China and the European Union.