American Economic Exceptionalism

There is no doubt that US stands out in many ways that are desirable. Especially our share of the world economy is much larger (26% of world GDP) than our share of the world population (4.2%). This is certainly a success that is worth noticing and part of how we can proudly describe ourselves as “exceptional”.

But why are we so successful at producing GDP?

One important part of our economic engine is our ability to attract brilliant creative people from all over the world. People who have new ideas and want to put all their energy into developing them and harvesting the fruits of their creativity and hard work - find the US a very attractive place to go. The barriers to development, and likelihood of keeping the fruits, of their talent and hard work; seems much higher where they live, than its seems here.

That has created a stream of immigration - often called “brain drain” - from the rest of the world to this country. The best of the best look at US as a desirable destination, and we opened our doors - to the benefit of them, and our country.

Although part of our success with attracting talented and hard working people was very good marketing of our “rags to riches” narratives - there were also a reality of providing a permissive environment for the American dream.

The current policies based on a xenophobic panic attack created and exploited by Trump and his MAGA leadership, is about to give away this very powerful engine of American exceptionalism. The snake oil they are selling is that somehow we can retain all the wealth, without letting in any more foreigners.