As hard as it is to believe, America had the highest GDP per head in the world in the early 1900s. It was economically dominated by major industrialists and financiers. However, little was done about these captains of industries growing power, resulting in several Presidents who were supposed to reign them in taking bribes instead. After nothing was done, this eventually resulted in backlash against capitalism on both the right and the left in the country. After electing a left wing Nationalist who largely dealt with the Robber Barrons and stopped immigration with the current quota system, the economy entered the Great Depression. With the country teetering on the brink of civil war, an agrarian party was elected and oversaw recovery (though most economists today believe the economy was already poised for recover), stabilizing and creating the modern US.
America today is not in the top twenty five for GDP per head, has very few of the worlds largest companies, is heavily protected from the rest of the world economy, and has very little immigration or population growth to help create a dynamic economy. Local government tend to outlaw large corporations from setting up shop, and the economy is largely dominated by family owned farms, small factories, small business, and resource extraction. People tend to live in old houses with their families rather than head out to major cities with higher incomes, and most of those who do go to the bigger cities on their own either go childless, return home to start families, or assimilate into a local neighborhood pretty quickly.
I think the weakness and general disinterest of the Federal government plays a strong role. Prior to the States giving the Federal Government a 30 year license to tax carbons and subsidize nuclear, solar, geothermal, hydro, and wind power in 2005, Federal spending was only 2% of the economy. In the early 1900s it was moving to weaken local political units that resisted capitalists, to apply the Bill of Rights to local government, and take away local governments ability to control immigration; this however was killed by the agrarians. This ultimately resulted in the US stabilizing as a more multicultural entity, where large parts of the country speak German/French/Spanish with no inclination to change, most of the big cities are dominated by ethnic enclaves of Italian/Polish/Jewish/African/etc Americans, communal settings are normal across the country side, different Christian groups start their own local theocracies, African Americans and other groups have largely started their own ethnic enclaves in states that grant greater tolerance, most established cultural groups like Texans or Utah Mormons have serious state and local enforcement to protect their culture, a few libertine cities with gambling/prostitution have emerged, some major cities as rich and very capitalist, etc...
Now, I have nothing against the US. While it has had a disappointing economic performance, a GDP per head of around 50% of the Western European average is not bad. Outside the Amish, everyone has electricity, the water is clean, life expectancy is 81, literacy is universal, very strong sense of community, most people seem happy and healthy, lots of beautiful cultural heritage and religious sites have been built in our lifetime, lots of interesting novels and movies, everyone is friendly to tourists and often invite tourists over to their homes, people have lots of holidays, broken families are almost unknown, and most people are debt free.
It‘s a perfectly fine place to live so I mean no offense by this. It just seems like wasted potential. America could have been a Super Power. American culture could have been the top in the world. It could have afforded the worlds greatest military. They could have retirement accounts as big as most Europeans.
It is just wasted potential, even if most are content by it.
How could the United States be a place with a more capitalistic economy, consumer based culture, more centralized government, and a powerful military establishment?
America today is not in the top twenty five for GDP per head, has very few of the worlds largest companies, is heavily protected from the rest of the world economy, and has very little immigration or population growth to help create a dynamic economy. Local government tend to outlaw large corporations from setting up shop, and the economy is largely dominated by family owned farms, small factories, small business, and resource extraction. People tend to live in old houses with their families rather than head out to major cities with higher incomes, and most of those who do go to the bigger cities on their own either go childless, return home to start families, or assimilate into a local neighborhood pretty quickly.
I think the weakness and general disinterest of the Federal government plays a strong role. Prior to the States giving the Federal Government a 30 year license to tax carbons and subsidize nuclear, solar, geothermal, hydro, and wind power in 2005, Federal spending was only 2% of the economy. In the early 1900s it was moving to weaken local political units that resisted capitalists, to apply the Bill of Rights to local government, and take away local governments ability to control immigration; this however was killed by the agrarians. This ultimately resulted in the US stabilizing as a more multicultural entity, where large parts of the country speak German/French/Spanish with no inclination to change, most of the big cities are dominated by ethnic enclaves of Italian/Polish/Jewish/African/etc Americans, communal settings are normal across the country side, different Christian groups start their own local theocracies, African Americans and other groups have largely started their own ethnic enclaves in states that grant greater tolerance, most established cultural groups like Texans or Utah Mormons have serious state and local enforcement to protect their culture, a few libertine cities with gambling/prostitution have emerged, some major cities as rich and very capitalist, etc...
Now, I have nothing against the US. While it has had a disappointing economic performance, a GDP per head of around 50% of the Western European average is not bad. Outside the Amish, everyone has electricity, the water is clean, life expectancy is 81, literacy is universal, very strong sense of community, most people seem happy and healthy, lots of beautiful cultural heritage and religious sites have been built in our lifetime, lots of interesting novels and movies, everyone is friendly to tourists and often invite tourists over to their homes, people have lots of holidays, broken families are almost unknown, and most people are debt free.
It‘s a perfectly fine place to live so I mean no offense by this. It just seems like wasted potential. America could have been a Super Power. American culture could have been the top in the world. It could have afforded the worlds greatest military. They could have retirement accounts as big as most Europeans.
It is just wasted potential, even if most are content by it.
How could the United States be a place with a more capitalistic economy, consumer based culture, more centralized government, and a powerful military establishment?