I’m a little more optimistic; like yeah, all of that is definitely happening, but there is lots of genuinely helpful research being done in the US. Not everything here is rotten. China’s research output is just an order of magnitude greater. See https://www.nature.com/nature-index/institution-outputs/generate/all/global/academic for a cool list of research outputs by institution.
i’d love a reading list! i have read a bit of marxist-inspired thought but never much marxism itself