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The US economy is the worlds most advanced in automation. Despite considerable competition from Japan it still leads in the most important fields of production.
The US industry is based on the capitalist system, which has always been favoured by the nations, including the working classes, perhaps because free enterprise, with its hazards as well as its possibilities, appeals more to the character of a pioneer nation than the restrictions of a controlled economy.
Until the middle of the 19th century, the USA was predominantly an agricultural society exporting its staple primary products- tobacco, cotton and wheat. With the discovery of immense mineral resources, the USA became a major supplier of coal, copper, silver and oil. Its coal and iron ore deposits became the basis of the worlds largest steel industry.
By 1900, powerful magnates of industry and finance had built up industrial empires, taking advantage of the continuous stream of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, China and Japan, who offered an inexhaustible reservoir of easily exploitable cheap labour.
Since their monopolies threatened the cherished American ideal of free competition, anti-trust legislation, first enacted in 1890, aimed at splitting up large trusts. These, however, usally re- emerged as holding companies controlling the majority if stock in other concerns. Being capable of financing industrial research and innovation, big business continued to dominate an economy which was compelled to meet the gigantic capital requirements of a technological society. Research and development gained such importance that in the press they are often just referred to by their initials R and D.
The unprecedented growth and prosperity of postwar America encouraged the belief that growth was the surest indicator of a sound economy. In the Seventies, however, the Vietnam warm the oil crisis of 1974 and 1979, soaring inflation and increasing environmental pollution put an end to the era of plenty and the cult of growth. The government cut back on NASA’s gigantic projects and the supersonic aircraft, and began to curb industrial expansion by introducing legislation for the protection of environment. Industry itself was hit by the two recessions caused by soaring oil prices and slackening demand. Successive administrations so far have tried in vain to fight the twin evils of stagnation and inflation.
Continued government borrowing produced immense deficits, even more so as competition from the EEC- and Pacific- rim countries encouraged vast imports and impeded exports.
The Reach of American culture has extended far wide across the world. You can find plenty of American Products throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America and all other, even the poorest, parts of the world. The “export” of American culture became very popular and nowadays you can hardly find any person who don’t knows American music an films. American staples, such as blue jeans and Nike jeans have become staples everywhere else.
American culture domination has grown ever stronger over the past fifty years, and today American culture can be found in almost every country. However, many question the value of this dominance. Is the United States opening opportunities to people around the world, or destroying local cultures and customs? Do American cultural exports offer people more choices? There are some different meanings about these questions. Some people think that Americas ruthless capitalism will destroy every local custom and that all countries will adopt the way of American Life. Some others think that a new chance is given to exchange meanings and customs with all people worldwide.
It is important to recognize that American culture has spread primarily as a result of trade. Executives at Mc Donalds, Nike and Coca-Cola export their products around the globe not out of a sense of more obligation, nor as part of a crafty plan to subvert the worlds population; they export their products, and with them American culture, in an attempt to make profit.
The past 40 years have seen the biggest and longest economic boom in history, resulting in rising standards of living for people around the globe, and massive profits for the international corporations which have benefited from global trade opportunities. This expansion in trade is largely due to reductions in the trade barriers between countries. Where most governments once tried to protect and isolate their country’s economy from the global marketplace, there is now a rush to participate in global trading. Today companies regularly merge across national lines to form multinational corporations, and relocation of manufacturing sites to countries with cheap labour costs is normal.
This global trade has both advantages and disadvantages. Supporters of trade argue that it create jobs, as the large global market needs more workers to produce more goods. It has also been credited with aiding economic growth. Some formerly poor countries, such as Japan or the city of Hong Kong have dramatically increased their average incomes per person by trading globally. And some have even suggested that globalization has been contributed to the spread of democracy and an increased respect for human rights. This seems logical, as individuals gain more economic power, they seek more rights, politically as well.
2.1.1 Concerns about Globalization
Opponents of globalization, on the other hand, denounce global trade as causing more harm than good. They believe that it is responsible for creating poor working conditions and poverty in developing countries. Wealthy corporations open factories in poor nations, where labour is cheaper, and often exploit these workers. The workers may face horrendously long hours and brutal conditions, for wages that are typically less than 2€ per day. It has also been claimed that global trade encourages environmental damage. Developing nations often recklessly exploit their environment, in an effort to export to the global market, Lastly, there is the worry that globalization leads to cultural degradation. Rather than producing a greater choice of products in each nation, global trade may lead to the world becoming blandly similar. Multinational corporations promote the same products the world over. Small local companies cannot compete with the high advertising budgets and low prices of these corporations, so they drop out of the market.
2.1.2 Reasons for America’s success
But why has American culture come to dominate in this way? To begin with, North America itself is a large and wealthy country, with a huge and diversity population. US corporations which do well at home have already succeeded in marketing and distributing for a great number of consumers. For American companies, the jump from national to international marketing and distribution is not as great as it is for those from smaller countries. Further, American companies, can afford to spend a great deal of money marketing their products around the world, and are able to undercut the prices of local products.
It is worth nothing that, for entertainment, fast food, carbonated drinks and so on- areas in which the US has come to dominate- America was first in field. The availability of new technologies to people of all classes had a big influence on them. For instance moving pictures; with the occurring of cheap TV sets everyone had access to films, news and mainly commercials.
2.1.3 Why American success continued
Much of American culture’s success appears to lie in the fact that American corporations are wealthy, and that they were ahead of others in certain areas. But how have they continued this dominance? One answer to this lies in the fact that people associated the United States with wealth and Success; this is particularly true in countries from which many people have emigrated to America. The idealized view of America as the land of the free, where the streets are paved with gold, lives on. By purchasing American products, people can buy a little of the country’s glamour. Wearing western clothes, eating western things makes you look like a wealthy westerner. American culture has the added appeal that not only is it glamorous, it is also usually easy to digest. This applies to products from the sweet fizzy taste of Coca Cola to Hollywood action movies. US culture is generally unsophisticated, and so can be appreciated by everyone. American TV shows and movies rarely have an unhappy ending, and are usually fast-paces, holding your attention with car chases and love scenes.
2.1.4 Globalization and the Future
American culture today owes its dominance to combination of glamour, technology, marketing and the US massive wealth. But there are pockets of resistance. Other countries also do quite well in the global market for popular culture, such as Great Britain. Some people don’t even know that the USA exists, but this is not to say that they were unfamiliar with the US products. Furthermore, as no other country presently has the critical mass enjoyed by the Americans, it seems likely that US dominance will increase still further, rather than diminish.
In all, globalization is a scary term. It somehow implies the world turning into one giant American- style shopping mall, where cultures, languages, customs, and individual rights are dissolved by commerce. But this is not what globalization has to be about. America itself has been greatly influenced by other cultures- Western and non Western alike. Some Americans have even adopted far east customs and don’t fight against it.
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