In an age of "agrobusiness," but it still has the sympathy of most Americans in much the

same way the corner "Mom and Pop" grocery store once did.

Many reasons have been offered to explain why the U.S. has been able to go

from a small, struggling economy to the leading industrial and agricultural nation in

such a short time. One reason, obviously, is its size and natural resources, but these

alone do not account for its progress. Other countries share these, and some are su-

perior in both. America's vitality, its so-called spirit of enterprise and initiative, has

certainly played an important role. The American system of government, too, has

encouraged citizens to vigorously pursue their own economic interest.

The rapid progress of American industry and agriculture may also be traced to a

characteristic which has often been called typically American. This is the constant

willingness to experiment, combined with the desire to find new solutions to old

problems. Social and geographical mobility have also played a part. When the older

“smoke-stack” industries in the Midwest had problems, people moved – and were willing

to move – to areas where they could find jobs. They were also willing to be trained for

new ones. California and Texas are now the leading manufacturing states in America

(California is also the largest agricultural producer). More than half of the over 100

million Americans in the work force in the mid-1980s were in white-collar jobs, with an

additional 13 percent or so in service occupations. In spite of an economic depression and

an unemployment rate of close to ten percent in the early 1980s, the American economy

managed to create more than ten million jobs between 1982 and 1985. This is largely a

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result of the some three million new businesses which were started in just five

years. The unemployment rate in the mid-1980s was down to around seven percent.

While this was certainly not good, it compared favorably with most of the other major

economies.

American business and industry has also greatly benefited from the major

universities, their basic research, and willingness to support talent. Significant, too, has

been “the spirit of enterprise,” in other words, taking a chance on both people and ideas,

and letting those who are willing to work try to make something work. Unlike the tough

old industrial barons of the 19th century, American entrepreneurs today are likely to be

young, adventurous, and well educated. Above all, they are willing to take risks to

achieve success. They are helped in this by that strange mixture of teamwork and

competition, that appreciation of experience and expertise, which marks American

business. Despite their emphasis on the individual, Americans often work well together in

small groups. They respect the person with practical experience, with “dirt under his

fingernails,” as well as the expert with the Ph.D. after his name.

It is often the challenge, the desire to create something new or better, rather than

the material results that motivates Americans, with financial success being merely an

outward sign of achievement. Aware of this motivation, many firms in the U.S. today

hire the best and brightest young minds, leave them alone with plenty of support and

research facilities, and let them develop their own ideas. Even if only a few come up

with something of interest - as did three Bell Telephone Laboratories researchers in

1948 when they invented the transistor - the investment has been worth it.

Many Americans prefer to be their own bosses, and they are willing to trade

security for the chance of "making it." Some 10 million Americans owned their own

businesses in 1984, and four times that number (some 42 million) owned a part of

businesses and industries through stock. Yet, despite its own claims, America is far

from being a "free enterprise" market. Anyone trying to start a business is faced with

many regulations, restrictions, and laws from all levels of government, federal, state,

and local. The federal government sets laws concerning working conditions,

transportation, minimum wages, and working hours (the minimum legal wage in 1987

was $3.35 per hour). Environmental protection and equal employment laws in the

United States are among the strictest in the world. Such laws and regulations,

standards and requirements represent the greatest contrast of the present business

climate with that of the past.

The American blue-collar worker is among the highest paid in the world, and

his benefits and pensions also make him one of the most expensive. The average

production worker in the U.S. earned $9.50 an hour in 1985, the highest wage of any

production worker in the industrial West. In addition, many firms in the United States

have profit-sharing plans for their employees. Through these agreements, employees

receive a certain percentage of the profits the company makes. Profit shares may be

paid out in cash or company stock at the end of the fiscal year or may be put into a

trust fund and distributed to participants at retirement ("deferred plan"). This kind of

profit-sharing started in the U.S. in the early 20th century. Proctor & Gamble began

its profit-sharing plan in 1887, Eastman Kodak Company, and Sears, Roebuck &

Company followed in 1912 and 1916. In 1984, some 20 million Americans

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participated in plans to receive a share of company profits. In addition, around 82

percent of American workers in medium-sized and large firms were covered by a

retirement pension plan from their firms.

Recently a new trend has emerged which attempts to put employees and

employers on much the same level. In some firms all employees own a part of the

company and do all kinds of jobs. But all share in the profits or losses as well. This

arrangement seems to give great incentive to employees.

If one looks at America's industrial history, such developments are not

surprising. Henry Ford became famous for his use of mass-production techniques.

Perhaps more revolutionary, however, was the fact that, in 1914, he offered his workers

a daily wage of $5.00 at a time when the national average was $2.40 and reduced the

working day from nine to eight hours. The result was astounding: while mass

production reduced the price of cars (Ford's Model T, the famous Tin Lizzie. cost

$850 in 1908, but only $350 in 1926), better wages meant that more people could afford

one. Millions of average Americans had cars - Ford alone had produced almost 30

million by the end of the 1930s - when elsewhere they remained luxuries or toys for

the rich. This tendency to make new products available to and affordable for

everybody is one obvious reason why American business has usually been supported

by average Americans.

Another reason for this widespread support of business has been the tendency of

the "very rich" in America to give away much of their money before they died.

American tycoons such as the Carnegies and Rockefellers, the Fords and

Guggenheims, gave much of their wealth to charity, to hospitals, universities,

libraries, museums, art galleries, and educational foundations. Carnegie, for example,

felt that "the man who dies rich dies thus disgraced." During his lifetime, he gave away

$370 million of his estimated $400 million "for the benefit of the community." This