I used to very vividly and with keenness watch a TV serial on History
Channel titled "The History of the US" and came to know much about this
country which I hither-to didnt. Some where starting with the advent of
the settlers step by step through the ages to the modern day United
states it said it all...the various mile stones through which the
community emerged into a country to become a very powerful economy with a
distinct blend and spirit to be duplicated as a model by various
economies. If I were to ever use the word Neo-Economy it would be
befitting to be the one the United States created and endured during the
past 150 years. What makes the United States great..it is largely the
purposeful union of states themselves united by a spirit of coherence
and a common bedrock of enduring hardships and looking at the future
with optimism and faith and when such a combination is in some kind of
test by time it slowly solidifies as a common cult to be held on with
conviction that bulldozes any apparent impediment with lethal force.
There are a few things unique about America as a country. Point 1 its
inventive spirit ..point 2 its social composition consisting of people
from many parts of the globe....Point 3 its history that has in it
entrenched a saga of two wars namely the war for independence and the
civil war ...point 4 its geography of being in an isolated continent
away from the bulk land mass of Eurasia ....and above all a faith
system that somewhere formed the crux and possibly brought into the
country by the settlers.
Let me dwell upon the points mentioned above in some detail. The
inventive spirit is transperent in the many technological inventions
that took birth in the United States ..the telephone . the electric
bulb...the aeroplane to name a few and not to forget the modern day
computer and the internet...and not to forget methodologies of mass
production and the atom bomb. Driven deep in the culture of this country
is a quest for knowledge and an optimism to develop new things and an
environment in part that un-shakles individuals into such effort.
Secondly the US is an embodiment of a classic example of what a
community can become on leveraging the skills of people from very
different genetic and ethnic backgrounds not that such compositions were
not beset by problems but successively overcoming such bottlenecks time
and again and channelising them for betterment. Each community brings
with them certain special talents which when combines with each other
what we have is explosive growth of some kind unlike a country which
might be composed of a certain sect of people work with one or few skill
sets.
America had wars aplenty starting with wars with the local Indians to
the American war of Independence to the civil war barely 150 years ago
which in my view-point gave the country a first hand insight of how to
prepare oneself for war and what the realities were . Not that other
societies and countries did not have such exposure..here the war theater
was time and again well within their soil and more often than not the
enemy was within themselves and the wars were closely fought and not one
sided which means every strategy under the belt had to be carefully
examined and implemented for advantage. America knew too well what it
meant to be at war not just the fighting , the logistics, war time
manufacturing and the general uncertainities and wrath. The second world
war tilts in favour of the Allies with the advent of America into the
war and all the experience garnered by the country over the past came
handy in their mission and operation in Europe against Germany.
Point 4 america has an unique geography a large country that stretches
from one ocean to the other and a predominantly cold climate susceptible
to natural disaster now and then. But America all through enjoyed a
military advantage of the impossibility of a terrestrial invasion by any
enemy.....being fortified by the sea on both sides. this is some kind
of a natural defense and an advantage as inflicting collateral damage
for any enemy would be an impossibility.
The strength of America does not essentially ly in economic prowess but
in a faith system largely that comes from the roots from whence it came
and every time it was put to test it stood the test of time. This Faith
system could be seen as a combination of a conviction and optimism
and with religious ideals running somewhere beneath. This system drew
the country and its people on track every time it went astray and acted
as a lighthouse to a wandering ship... a self correcting mechanism to
which the country turned when in some kind of quandry. Slavery was not
abolished by anyone external to the country but by some one from within
who saw a large deviation from the ideals on which the society was
constituted to what was in vogue.
Why have I titled this write-up as 'What Ails the United States"? Is
there something that is really haywire or intimidating..The answer may
be No but still looking at things and the hearsay it appears that the
United States somewhere needs to re-orient itself once more in relation
to world forces and finds itself running an economy short of the bounty
repeatedly under a cloud of varying perceptions and aspirations.
At the rock bottom let us analyze the events of the past several
decades. The first half of the bygone century was a testing field for
the economy of the US and with the Second World War thrust on it found
herself as a country deeply embedded in war effort and for
a preponderant majority of time a haven for war time manufacturing that
spurred the economy and the country. The next mile stone if one might
say are the events in Germany which triggers the cold war and much of
the focus and thrust of American foreign policy dwell ed on the Cold
war. The Soviet Union and the United States the single dominant powers
that overwhelmed Germany were at loggerheads about what had to be done
with the fallen Germany and landed up dividing it and sowing the seeds
in the bargain for a long drawn conflict lasting for more than four
decades which would demand American intervention into many parts of the
world to keep the soviets under check and it appears the USA was
paranoid of the Soviet Union ;in the process infringing into global
territories made alliances and partnerships there upon which were short
lived and for immediate purposes- the dissolution of which sometimes
unilateral left a trail of opponents who became enemies over a period of
time . They were helpless at one point of time but emerged formidable
over a course of time. With the collapse of the cold war which was
unexpected the the economic patterns of the globe change as many
technologies developed during the Cold War and its fears catapulted by
default into the common domain changing once and for all the rules of
World polity.
We see a flattenning of the world in modern times and the emergence of a
level playing feild largely created by technological inventions and
momentum. Some where the very factors of the past that were of
significant advantage for the USA have somewhere not been productive as
they once were. Previously lesser the population of a country the
better the economic indices would be was a beleif but in the present day
scenario of low cost high connectivity it translates into weak local
markets vis-a-vis a populated country. A country today with higher
population and enlivened with advanced technologies operating at low
costs has a formidable economic formula under its belt and gallops much
faster into progress as other economies of the world look stalemated.
Let me give an analogy. Take a part of the sea where there is fishing
and there is a big ship fishing using modern technologies and a myriad
of small motor boats fishing using less advanced technologies. The end
result of such a scenario is that the big ship would have a surfeit of
catch and the smaller boats though not well off but still surviving the
environment and able to barely meet economic demands of survival.The
economics of the big ship work too well and do so repeatedly more than
offsetting economic equations of survival. Think of another situation
where all the motor boats have access to advanced technologies of
fishing and the result would be drastic for the big ship over time as
smaller motor boats are making a catch ten times more than before and
communication technologies help these motor boats co-apt with each
other. What ensues is a unhealthy situation for the big ship operating
in the same waters as they see a downward trend and the ship being big
is less nimble and at the same time having economic overheads owing to
its size increasingly tends to a survival problem and has to create
strategies to counter the down turn. What is happening is world affairs
is all too similar. The smaller motor boats are having an unprecedented
catch and need more and more manpower to pursue its activities and a
reverse happening within the precincts of the larger ship and the
situation intensifying with time.
What can the President of the United States do today? They say "Man
would make a difference on a job"....but the President of the United
States no matter who he is as a person..a performer or reformer or
transformer has his hands full with a few problems and can take some
immediate measures but the large scale changes if any would only result
in the long term depending on what strategic measures he might initiate
to align the country in a new global setting.
What ails the United States ? I dont know for sure but i can see situations that might be the cause of ailment.
Firstly I see the near collapse of the American Auto sector which was
once a monopoly player and the sector loosing steadily to the Japanese
first within the American markets itself and the world markets ther
upon. Auto sector is large scale employer and generator of profits.
Steady down slide in this sector has to be arrested which means some
kinds on newer forms of working cultures must be developed.
Secondly I see the immigration policies of the United States doing it
untold harm. In the 1920's anyone could walk into the country and many
did and within this larger crowd were few men who would make large scale
positive influences on the multitude through their actions. Henry Ford
for example..a Quadricyle driven through Detroit ends up being a big
manufacturing sector. This doesn't exist today. On the contrary educated
people with formal qualifications make an entry and their contributions
are good but not path braking. The richest man today I am told is in
Mexico. Henry Fords' and Andrew Carneiges' of the world are staying back
in their countries and making contributions of some larger form. In
some way this must be remedied ..i dont know how..but it should be.
Thirdly the country carries with it the wages of the cold war which is
manifested today in continuous military engagements at few pockets in
the world and might be draining attention and expenditure. These
ventures might need specialized management and monitoring.
America has an internal problem or concern in the form of a poor
concentration of population. It appears to me a large geographical area
with less population and not a healthy trend in the present global
environment. Countries with larger populations today seem to be reaping
internal economic rewards with lesser necessity to look outwards. The
unification of Europe can be seen as an effort to improve population
economics of the zone. China has it as a birthright and India has it
too. I am somewhere talking about population and density of population.
China as a country I presume has a lesser density of population
compared to India and density of population being higher somewhere
creates economic security and advantage.
I believe a Head of state must be at least 55 years of age and on
getting two terms would be roughly 65 years when he demits office an
ideal age range where the incumbent had adequate experience and brings
an average of 30 years of experience when he assumes office. Any one
younger would carry some kind of a risk factor when he operates from
high offices. This is my personal view which may not be entirely with
sound standing but an issue that might have significance in the affairs
of a state.
Well I just thought of putting forth ideas or reactions to the
happenings around the world at large and no matter in which part of the
world one is day to day problems of humanity are the same and increasing
with time this globe is becoming an "United States" where the states of
the world are keen on partnering with each other to assuage their
problems and that of their citizens and every inhabitant of this planet
as of now has something to celebrate.
