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From the Economist: A history of America's economic dynamism
The political machinations that allowed a candidate who lost the popular to become president is acceptable (by law) ONLY IN THE US. Because we have continued, without questioning, formulations of political behaviour (Gerrymandering) and manipulation of the Popular-Vote (the Electoral College) that are rare enough in any other developed democracy on earth.
But beyond that accusation, there is the fact that creates envy throughout other economies and it is Our Economic Dynamism. It this condition that saves us from becoming a backwater country. That is, the ability of the American people to change behaviour - their own and their rules of governance.
Excerpt:
There remains a lot of reformation to be done to correct the unfairness of America's horrible Income Disparity - and the reckless manner in which Upper-income Taxation allows some individuals extremely large fortunes with which they manipulate the political process.
But underlying that wish is - as the above linked article explains well - a market-economy dynamic that works amazingly well ... !
The political machinations that allowed a candidate who lost the popular to become president is acceptable (by law) ONLY IN THE US. Because we have continued, without questioning, formulations of political behaviour (Gerrymandering) and manipulation of the Popular-Vote (the Electoral College) that are rare enough in any other developed democracy on earth.
But beyond that accusation, there is the fact that creates envy throughout other economies and it is Our Economic Dynamism. It this condition that saves us from becoming a backwater country. That is, the ability of the American people to change behaviour - their own and their rules of governance.
Excerpt:
“Capitalism in America: A History”. By Alan Greenspan and Adrian Wooldridge. Penguin Random House
NO PAIN, no gain, is the moral of “Capitalism in America”, a business history of the United States by Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and Adrian Wooldridge, The Economist’s political editor. It will surprise no one to learn that these authors are fans of capitalism: the more disruptive it is, the better they like it. America’s exceptionalism as a capitalist economy, they argue, has been its distinctive tolerance for Schumpeterian creative destruction.
Many readers will agree. Less obvious, at least from today’s perspective, is the book’s contention that American capitalism is also the world’s most democratic. “In many countries capitalism has always been associated with a plutocratic elite,” the authors write. “In America, it has been associated with openness and opportunity.” This is far from obvious looking at today’s plutocracy of financiers and Silicon Valley technologists, yet the book is convincing about the uniquely expansive opportunities innovators and entrepreneurs have enjoyed throughout most of American history.
One thread is tolerance for creative destruction, combined with the openness of the frontier, and the country’s early and consistent support for higher education and research. Although they underplay the role of the scale of the American market, the authors are right to emphasise the importance of process innovation, or, in other words, methods of organising production. This is often overlooked in economic histories in favour of product innovation, the exciting new gadgets and goods.
There remains a lot of reformation to be done to correct the unfairness of America's horrible Income Disparity - and the reckless manner in which Upper-income Taxation allows some individuals extremely large fortunes with which they manipulate the political process.
But underlying that wish is - as the above linked article explains well - a market-economy dynamic that works amazingly well ... !