When I was growing up, most Americans believed that one of the things that made our country exceptional was “the American standard of living” — that Americans of all social classes were better off than their counterparts elsewhere, and that is why everyone would want to move to the USA if they could.
Now we’re adopting a new belief — that what makes our country exceptional, at least compared to European nations, is that we Americans are tough and therefore don’t need job security, guaranteed medical care or all the other things that cushion their lives. However, if the Europeans follow their present austerity course, we may not be exceptional in that respect, either.
Tags: American exceptionalism, American Standard of Living, Austerity
Phil Ebersole's Blog 
February 22, 2014 at 8:49 pm |
Countering that “new belief” is difficult if not impossible because too few people know what Keynesian economics is or the success we have had when that theory is put into practice. Now I know that the only thing politicians every want to do with putting the theory into practice is to cut taxes. Keynes also wanted taxes raised to reduce the possibility of runaway inflation when the economy threatened to get heated..
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