4. Smart money

AMERI-THINK:Choice is the same thing as freedom, which is the same thing as money, and that’s the real secret of the national fondness for cash. It’s not that Americans are by nature greedier or more acquisitive than their European counterparts. They’re no fonder of their dishwashers and micro-waves than the British of their colour TV’s and double glazing ... no happier with their automatic orange-juicers and garbage compactors in Houston than a Liverpool housewife with a toasted sandwich-maker or a duvet. Nor do Pennsylvania steelworkers push harder for wage-settlements than Yorkshire miners. It’s just that Americans admire money more openly. They see it as a measure of success, and the final guarantee of personal choice. In short, Money is Power – and power is a good thing. Lack of power makes you a Shlep. Money is a hedge against Shlep-hood.

Furthermore, you can take it with you – or, if you’ve got enough, you may not have to go. Cash gives room for manoeuvre. If it turns out that deathis optional – or science comes up with a commercial miracle – your dollars guarantee that you won’t be ignored. Money buys the best ... and the best is your birthright.

BRIT-THINK: Public stance of middle-to-upper classes is to poo-poo money (‘not my first priority’) and instead to speak passionately of ‘the quality of life’. By this, Brits mean things spiritual or cultural, which – they maintain – have nothing to do with hard cash. Price of theatre tickets notwithstanding.

The theory is that money can’t buy taste, or style, or a sense of priorities – which are things you’re born with. (Wealthy people are born with more than poor ones.) Your spending habits are seen as a reflection of breeding and the quality of your mind, and allow others to make judgements about your background and personal style. Haggling about money is OK for miners and steelworkers (just). Others should concern themselves with loyalty to employers, or duty to the wider community. It is the custom of wealthiest Brits (Captains of Industry and/or Royals) to periodically remind the masses of the virtues of self-denial and restraint. This is called noblesse oblige.

Single-minded pursuit of The Readies is simply vulgar, and undermines the human spirit. Of course, you’ve got to have money – because penury is unbecoming, and gets in the way. But enough is enough. After all – you can’t take it with you. Americans never understand that.

5. The consensus society

AMERI-THINK: Yup, that’s what they call it. What they mean is that virtually everyone in America – be he farmer, welder or Wall Street wizard – wants the same thing. Their separate definitions of ‘the good life’, if you asked them, would be amazingly similar. Nor do any of them – regardless financial position – tend to question the fundamental social order. With the exception of a few ageing refugees from Haight-Ashbury, America today is sure it’s got it right. The nation’s politics reflect this. There is not much ideological distance between the two major parties. Sure, the Republicans are supposed to favour Big Business, lower taxes and centralised government, while Democrats aretraditionally more liberal, free public spenders, and happier to devolve decisions. But they’re after the same result – a strong, secure and unabashedly capitalist America.