How did the United States of America become so rich? How did its population acquire such a great purchasing power? What decisions did American politicians make so it got such a powerful production and GDP? How come the US is the world's greatest economy?
>inb4 geography
Many other countries like Brazil, China and Russia have huge resources and yet they are not even close to the US economy
being literate, more than many Southern European countries in the beginning of the XX century.
see:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0000/000028/002898EB.pdf
>inb4 geography
It's indeed geography, but rather than just resources it's the fact it's separated from the rest of the planet by two oceans. The only neighbor that ever posed any threat, Mexico, got stomped to fuck in the early to mid 19th century and since then it was easymodo.
Can't really be compared to Russia which got repeatedly buttfucked from all sides over the last 1000 years.
>>285651
What about Brazil then?
Also there's a ton of other big countries that have been pretty much isolated. And the USA wasn't actually isolated. They fought wars against Britain and the rest of the world.
>>285615
some says because of protestant entrepreneur/wageslave culture. see Max Weber's "protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism".
other says (as >>285628 ) that it was because culture spread more rapidly. it is also a byproduct of protestantism, where you are encouraged to read the bible and be literate, while catholics had priest to read for them.
some other says USA became so rich because of a rabid system of slave labour and through the exploitation of workers.
I think there is some truth in al the things I mentiones; you should also add the great importance of immigration from other countries which brought different cultures and lifestyles that enriched your protestant background
>>285651
large amounts of resources and we have ports that let us trade with south America Africa Asia and Europe
>>285662
The jungle isn't easy to colonize.
>>285615
>What decisions did American politicians make so it got such a powerful production and GDP
Read into Alexander Hamilton, Lincoln, Teddy, Wilson, and FDR and their policies for men who built the economy. Especially Hamilton and FDR for establishing international credit and infrastructure respectively.
>>285662
Brazil was populated by a large amount of natives, and then filled with blacks.
Great variety and quantity of resources
Flat land makes building infrastructure easy and cheap, that makes commerce and transportation costs low.
Close proximity to the world's rich countries - western europe- compared to South America.
These are just a few
>>285662
Brazil could have been a prosperous economy today if they didn't get into so much debt in the mid 70s and suffered from hyperinflation in the 80s and early 90s.
Graph: income per capita in relation to the United States. South Korea, Japan, China and Brazil.
>>285695
>Brazil could have been a prosperous economy today if they didn't get into so much debt in the mid 70s and suffered from hyperinflation in the 80s and early 90s.
On the subject of Brazil, I wonder how the country would rank comparatively to the United States during the late 19th century. Might be my own bias speaking, and I'll admit that I haven't studied the subject extensively at all, but it seems that the power shift from the abolished monarchy to the grand coffee landowners all but killed any plans for industrialization in favor of profitable, but fickle, coffee exports. Can't help but wonder how the early 20th century would've turned out if the country still had a monarch that could keep such interests in check.
Because it had
>literate, smart population to begin with (even if they were just english rejects)
>enormous area and resources
>no military, nor economical enemies in the area
>no threats in general
>temperate climate
>cheap (or even free) labor force
>spoke the same language as the most powerful country in theworld and was its natural trade partner
>>285721
Sorry for the hatefacts
Is it just a coincidence that every native and African region is a shithole?
>>285747
it's not only about the monarchy, the whole of South America had the problem of a lack of incentive for industrialisation because of wealthy plantation landowners.
It relates to >>285681, the large amounts of natives and imported blacks, coupled with iberians merely inheriting feudalistic structures set in place by the indigenous empires (or importing theirs), was a huge block for private ownership.
On the other hand, the pleathora of small private land owners in eastern USA fostered urbanisation and consequentely a large factory workforce.
The effects can even be seen on an internal scale (Union's industrial power vs CSA large landowners and black slaves)
>>285615
>no one has mentioned rivers yet
ŞMH. The United States has more navigable rivers per mile than every other country on Earth, combined. This enables extremely cheap transportation, a vital ability for a healthy economy. This, in addition to vast natural resources, massive industrialization, and good worker efficiency made the US the global economic backbone.
>>285852
>bawaw, meine aryans vs niggers
East Germany is markedly shitholier than West Germany, does that mean there is some inherent racial inferiority that totally coincidentally runs right where the Iron Curtain used to run?
>>285666
Why are the Yanks losing all their farmland?
>>285901
Desertification is a hell of a drug
>>285927
>creeping into the great plains
true, actual, environmentalism policy in the US will be sprung from the farm lobby and i will laugh like hell when it happens
>>285615
Step 1. Don't maximize your economy from the getgo with imperialism
step 2. Don't get invaded in ww1, but sell goods to the winners/losers
step 3. Same thing as above but for ww2
Step 4. Stay on top of global manufactoring and politics and endlessly sell your equipment to other countries.
Proximity to Europe (spread of ideas, trade), lack of autism of Hispanics, isolation from threats, entrepreneurism, etc.
Virtually the same reason China was so successful for so long.
>>285615
It's because we limited government and chained it with a constitution
>>285830
Also an extremely stable government/rule of law. Yes you can point to nullification and other issues but compared to the upheavles in practically every other nation the consistent peaceful transition of power in the US is almost unrivaled
>>285721
R E D D I T S J W
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we have a huge internal economy, with natural resources not already tapped out by previous generations. we are easily defended: 2 oceans, the canadian arctic, and a small land bridge to the south that hot, dry, and full of mexicans, who will ALWAYS be closer to us than some foreign power. plus, we got out of ww2 intact, so we had a head start on everyone else, and our social structure fit the new world economy better than many other hidebound systems. luck of the draw, my friend, just like jews lucked out in the renaissance for knowing about banking (not that it helped ALL that much, but still it was nice)
What about interbreeding with natives and gradual adaption of native culture?
>>285662
US made great deals out of them most of the time.
freedom
No close rivals, tons of European migrants that kept American culture evolving, tons of European intellectuals that kept academics evolving, lots of resources, and America picked its fights mostly well, never fighting even fights. America has had really good leadership (but geography is the root of America's greatness).
>>285615
Slavery and genocide. America was built on the back of African slaves and the graves of the American Indian.
>>285615
1. Big area.
2. Temperate climate
3. Resource rich.
4. More or less politically stable
5. Already rich from UK colonialization.
>Many other countries like Brazil, China and Russia have huge resources and yet they are not even close to the US economy
And those nations are now finally seeing their full potential.
A combination of vast quantities of arable land, and natural resources, and a government that promoted protectionism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_School_%28economics%29
>>286698
>anyone to the left of white supremacists is an 'SJW'
Cancerous post desu senpai.
War profiteering
>>285615
Slavery, genocide, racism, colonialism, imperialism, sexism, and the oppression of the working class.
>>285615
1. Lots of natural resources
2. High population due to immigration
3. Laissez-fair economics
4. Europe got fucked hard by World War 1 and 2 while the US was barely affected
It's because after World War 2 we destroyed the other countries with big auto manufacturing industry and started our own.
>>289713
Dumbest post ITT
>>289632
>>>/reddit/
>>>/tumblr/
Gee I wonder who could be behind this post
>>285615
It was build on freedom and littered with the blood of patriots.
>>289632
:^)
Their geography was blessed and their colonial history was also blessed.
You have an open fertile field with navigable rivers and a protected harbor. The main colonial effort happened in the eastern board and then flowed west, so the political head of the country stayed away from the resources to be exploited, but with relative easy access, through the lakes and the mississipi.
Also there's the constant in the early days of Britain coming back to kick their asses, so the emphasis in the naval power. The individualistic ideology sure helped but I really hate how people like to emphasize it so much.
>>292016
this. the u.s. has a wartime economy
