People nowadays complain about the opportunity gap and how the traditional American value of working your way to the top is no longer possible, and though its true that there is an ever-widening income gap and that its harder to be a self-made man than it was years ago, its still easier in America than in other countries. This article compares wealth in America and Europe and discovers that Germany is the country with most multimillionaires outside America - but there is a difference in the way Germans and Americans get rich: Americans tend to get rich on money they earn, while Germans get rich by inheriting. The reason for this is the legal and economic system: Germany protects established companies against competition within the marketplace, while America protects the consumer against companies (for example, supporting Amazons book-price-slashing against publishers desire to keep prices high). That makes the American marketplace more volatile for companies, but provides cheaper products for consumers. Thats why PanAm had to fall (as Google and Amazon will eventually fall), while Lufthansa will go on forever. It also encourages innovation. The Personal computer, the iPod and iPhone, the Internet, Facebook and Google, and much more are all American phenomenon because of this. Germany cant compete on the innovation sector (they are brilliant engineers, and theoretically had the computer before we did, but they could never create a market for a new product like the personal computer, and so have to leave that up to the Americans). Just sayin - we may be in a bad place in many ways, but in international comparison we are still the land of opportunity.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 08:36:28 +0000
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