Doesn't that kind of beg the question of how obtained that per capita income level in the first place?
Actually, I don't think it does. It's a great question, but how simple do you want the answer to be? We could start off with the advantages of British investment in a virtual tax free haven [colonial days]or the luck of the draw when Napoleon sold off the Louisiana purchase. How fortunate we were that the Irish were too stupid to be able to grow potatoes, just at the right time when we were building the transcontinental railroad and the plantation owners weren't willing to give up any of their employees to help build it. [A bit of an un-American attitude if you ask me.] The patent that Thomas Edison bought for the lightbulb from the inventor, a Canadian. The acquisition of the southwest from Mexico, just one year before the discovery of gold in California. That's just the beginning. Since, "one of the highest" is a comparative statement, one should be looking at/assessing the paths of other economies. One could ask whether there was any negative impacts to the economies of ... Europe for example, due to the minor conflicts in Europe over the last 100 years. .... WWI or WWII couldn't possibly have had the negative financial impact on Europe that we suffered with 9/11. I think there may be a multi-volume answer to that question, or we could just go with the standard answer that "the US is the best". Let's go with the later, it takes less effort.
No.. no.. don't tell me. We've exploited the world's masses.. ;0)
Egads, that would be un-American. We've never exploited any racial or ethnic group for our own advantage. Some people claim that the illegal immigrants are being exploited, but I prefer to call it a symbiotic economic relationship.
Bottom line.. Does the US economy face challenges? Certainly.. However, other countries are facing similar or even greater problems.
Misery does love company.
jttmab |
