My next article On The Myth By Keith Nobles There is something fundamental that has occurred in the United States going back to World War II. When WW II ended the United States had the world’s only major intact economy; half the ships afloat in the world were US Navy ships and we were the only country with an atom bomb. We were in a position that was the ultimate historical aberration. This was not normal for a country to be in our position. As a result of this position we were able to dominate the post-WW II era in many ways including economically. We were the world’s leading manufacturer (especially because the others had been destroyed or severely damaged); we were the world reserve currency, we were not just the most militarily powerful country but most of the world depended on us to defend them from the Soviets. No country in history ever had been in this position. We leveraged this position into the greatest burst of economic growth and prosperity ever known. However something happened during this time that was not good. We created a myth that we were entitled to this prosperity simply by virtue of being Americans. Our politicians by and large promised us this for eternity. That was pretty much required to be elected. We were exempt from math, economics, politics, diplomacy and reality simply by virtue of being Americans. We created a myth that an historical aberration was a permanent situation. A critical part of this myth was that we were entitled to the highest standard of living in the world. That our poor would be better off than the middle class in most other countries in the world. The myth that this could go on forever. The myth that even with only a quarter of the Americans working full time private sector jobs that we could still have the highest standard of living in the world. Most Americans continue to believe this myth today. A bit of history here: By the 1960s other economies around the world had started to regain their legs. Whereas with American dominance the United States was able to set price and value for many goods throughout the 1950s that was starting to no longer be the case by the end of the 1960s. We began a long process of supporting our expected standard of living by increasing government spending and interference in the economy. With this came such practices as raiding social security to fund social spending, increased borrowing, many increases in regulations and laws aimed at keeping prices artificially high and keeping less expensive exports out of the American markets. Rather than excel via the free market and expect hard work from everyone we adopted a model as though we were entitled to our position. As a country we deviated from the free market and believed we were wealthy enough that not everyone had to pitch in. Here is the reality of the situation: The amount of debt, market distortion and government interference we have suffered the last fifty years is unprecedented in history.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 20:09:51 +0000
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