Why is the US so rich?

Question

I'm really curious, from an economic perspective. I could never figure out an answer to this. Someone said they make a killer amount of money "behind the scenes" by selling arms and ammunition. But I don't think that is enough, even if it's added to the established firms. I thought it was because after WWII their companies had a time advantage and just made their money back then and maintained foothold.

The US has soooo much money. Anytime, in any place, when there is a firm that is doing well, some US firm will buy them out, simply because they have so much money. In Canada, Tim Hortons, The Bay, Molson...all got bought out by US companies. In England, soccer teams, Liverpool, Manchester United, Portsmouth, and sooner or later even Arsenal...all have American owners.

What do they do that makes them so rich? Does it have something to do with their policies? Are the people just really enterprising (how do you get people to be enterprising)...WHAT MAKES THEM SO RICH!!??

Answer 1

The United States has had a free economy for 200 years and a large area & population base giving it's free economy plenty of room to grow. You should know however that in the beginning most large tracts of land and large businesses were British owned & in the 19th century most of the canals & railroads were built with British capital. A number of America's largest businesses are foreign owned, including miost of its cement & concrete industry, Chrysler Corp, Miller Beer, Thompson publishing (Canadian owned) British petroleum (formerly Standard Oil of Ohio), Citgo Oil, 7-11 stores, etc. International ownership & cross investments have been around a long time.

Answer 2

You have some things right, but off on others. The US did have a substantial economic advantage after WWII and that carried on for many years, and to some extent today. From a pure economic perspective the US has had low taxes, open trade, a stable currency, rule of law, high education levels, a general lack of corruption, functioning public sectors such as utilities, low inflation, robust capital markets, etc, but those are the biggies.
As for who owns what by nationality, you have to look at relative size, of course the US is bigger than Canada or Holland, but if you look at the EU, it is a more fair comparision.
For example the big oil companies BP and Shell are not US based, and Ford is not doing very well while Toyota is. You mentioned Molson, Miller is owned by a South African company.
Magna (?) is thinking about buying Chrysler, so it goes both ways.
As for the sports franchises, that is tiny thing that some people will over pay for like buying a red sports car. I will bet you one of those owners will sell in a few years at a lose back to some locals.

Answer 3

Drew's answer is right on. I would add to it by saying that we have significant natural resources and durn near every industry in the world, from the hardest of industries (steel, oil) to the softest (software development and financial management). Add in a huge tourist industry and we make gobs of money. Although our per capita may not be #1 in the world, our Gross National Product is likely double (or more) any other country. Hell, California alone is #5 in the world.

So we have gobs of money with which to "invest." Are we a benign world financial monarch? No, not really. The financial world is based upon market forces which are Darwinian in nature -- survival of the fittest. Based upon Drew's comments (our guaranteed freedoms, history of innovation, etc.) as well as a basic psychological history founded upon 17th Century Puritanism (self-sacrifice, guilt if you don't work really hard), the U.S. does really well.

Consider that the "standard" work week is 40 hours and compare that to other countries. Compare vacation and sick time. I suspect that the U.S. is at the top/bottom (depending on your viewpoint, lol) in each of these categories.

Compare also the rate of heart attacks and stress and I bet we are at the very top of that statistic, too.

Answer 4

Some Americans become very wealthy because there is little government interference and an abundance of opportunity. In no other country can someone born into a poor, illeducated family and grow and prosper to become very wealthy. Some people are content to make a comfortable living, while others continue to amass success and fortune to the extreme levels of hundreds of millions and billions of dollars. one word answer: Opportunity

Answer 5

We are free to do as we wish as long as it it legal, this freedom let us be are best and the money is just a way to keep score on how well we have helped others.

All of these buy out well to take some thing and make it better, cheaper faster sexier, bottom line better for the customer.

Answer 6

Trust me not all of us are rich. The rich pass laws to favor themselves and we the working poor have to comply or go to jail or the street and the situation is only getting worse! We need to pass laws to stop the rich from taking over the government so all can have a chance and not be taken advantage of. How about government and business should be separated, and the government shall not pass any laws favoring the rich over the poor! Hummm?

Answer 7

"Anytime, in any place, when there is a firm that is doing well, some US firm will buy them out, simply because they have so much money."

You answered your own question. In this "global economy" we must now look overseas for our future profits.

In years past we can attribute the continued wealth to technological advances.

Answer 8

The people in the U.S are the richest in the world based on personal wealth. The government is 8 trillion in debt to other nations.If the other nations called in their debts we go into a depression worse than the one in 1929. It would last longer too.

Answer 9

NO. I just wish those recently before me advised people that the scriptural o.t. was the law of Moses; not Genesis-Malachi. Eph. 5:11, Matt 7:12.

Answer 10

Taxes they take almost 50 grand a year from me.