America is soooo arrogant! We hear this all the time. But really they’re not. I mean, their word for beer and friend is the same – how much more congenial can you get?
But the whole world needs America’s arrogance. You see, it is the great American Consumption machine that keeps the engine of the worlds economies running. If American consumption develops a sniffle the rest of the world goes into a pneumonaic coma! And this great machine can only be the great engine that it is if there is an equally great supply of cheap ‘fuels’ – all the goods and services it consumes! If this fuel becomes costly the machine slows down and with that the world comes to a grinding halt.
So, an endless supply of cheap labor is an imperative in the supply of all this cheap fuel. And the only way to guarantee that is to break down all trade barriers. And the only way to do that is to be able to stack the decks in favor. Hence the huge military power and the imperative need to control world financial transactions.
The rest of the world cannot get along without the endless flow of funds that America sends out in payment for it’s ‘fuel’. Those are the dollars that create new middle classes in India and China and sustain old middle classes in Europe. They keep the Japanese traveling and the Australians sending troops. Without these dollars every one of these countries, America included, will be faced with horrible choices.
Most nations will actually have to spend effort and long term investment in developing value in their own markets. Organic growth! The spread of economic opportunity! And America would have to pay the real price for what it’s engine needs! They too would have to invest in developing value in their own market (what a novel idea!). Top down globalization would have to give way to organic, bottom up globalization. Everyone would have to respect and deal with each other as peers on a level playing field. Oh really!! How arrogant can you get!?
So you see – America’s arrogance is a good thing. It is saving us from the embarrassment of having to confront our own hypocrisies!
I’m lovin it!
