Can Americans? Can They?
Posted on 18. Jul, 2010 by Ajay Goyal in All Write, Economy, Observations
Barack Obama’s approval ratings are Bush-sized just after 18 months in office. A disaster on biblical scale is unfolding in the US Gulf. What nature has built over billions of years is being destroyed by Big oil in three months. A whole continent of cement and steel is in despair. Millions are out of their jobs. Even the two wars cannot give employment to everyone. Millions of homes have been taken away from highly indebted families. States are passing draconian laws against immigrants – to arrest and deport anyone on slightest suspicion of being an immigrant. The American left and right is more divided than ever before. America is a nation divided and desperate.
So is it the end of “Yes We Can “spirit of America? The end of the American dream?
Hardly so. The biggest driver in American life is not oil, nor war. Though it can appear so – American dependence on oil, junk food and defense industry is addictive. But there is always an underlying current of innovation in America. American might appear a victim of its bad habits – but it is also constantly working to undermine them. American spirit is as much about greed and gain as it is about innovation. It is not enough for Americans to have standard half dozen flavors of Italian ice creams. There are more types of Italian pizzas in a single burrough of New York than in all of Italy. Americans dont stick to any one invention, innovation, product, or celebrity with lasting emotion. See the bru-ha-ha over Apple’s iphone4. It does everything short of transporting humans. There is more innovation packed in this one phone by one company in the five years than sum of all innovation by some civilizations . Nathan’s Hot Dogs is offering a fifty percent discount on banana split ice cream if you bring your own banana. How cool is that ! And yet Nathan’s stock is stale. It is because Americans are looking for ever greater achievement through innovation. Greater than bringing your own banana for a banana split.
And yet, Americans are unhappy.They want greater, better, smarter, quicker and they want it now.
Barack Obama has brought truly path breaking ideas and laws to America – and no one is impressed. His most important policy is on innovation ( read Obama Strategy on innovation at White House Web Site )
American nation and American dream is not about yet another oriental buffet in yet another strip mall surrounded Subway sandwich franchises run by Pakistani migrants and Dunkin Donuts operated by Indians near drycleaners owned by Koreans and nail stores of Vietnamese. American innovation is at work creating a dozen new flavours of slurpy each summer while Indian restaurants still serve a butter chicken recipe that was created by Brits a hundred years ago. Americans are never done pushing the limits of innovation.
Boeing’s Dreamliner 787 aircraft, First Solar’s thin film photovoltaic technology, Apple’s iphone, Google’s Wave, Maggie Moose’s icecream with crushed Oreo cookies.. the list of American innovative products is endless. It is easy to be disheartened by American melancholy. It is easy to be persuaded that America is done. But there is an ongoing courage and innovation about America that tells another story. America is just getting started. The constant debate and shrill noise of America is because of instant boredom with what is. America is always about what can be. Americans are always tinkering to create some thing new. The result can be uber ridiculous to plain crazy. But Americans go on innovating.
American Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, an MIT professor and a Noble Prize winning physicist summed up American approach in a speech in Copenhagen during the Climate Change summit. While many ministers and governments of the world tried to extort billions from America for “environmental damage” and a legacy of climate change emissions – Americans were thinking different. Chu talked about throwing – he said investing – billions of dollars on absolutely mad technical innovations. Swimming pools converted into batteries to store electricity, fuel cells creating energy from water and air, cheaper better photovoltaic technologies to make affordable electricity from sunlight, car batteries and engines that will make electric cars mainstream. But Chu and his effort could be all pointless. American innovation is not a government sponsored program. It is within the American DNA that someone somewhere in a garage or basement is attacking a problem with irreverence towards all that is. No rules, no tradition, no cultural script applies to these innovative Americans. Their words and their religious dogma is no insight into how they function.
American story is constantly being re-written. The sheer scale and depth of innovation in American society constantly pushes the frontiers of humanity. All this innovation may not be for the benefit of humanity. It might be senseless, pointless, useless but it is progress.
United States of America is world’s fastest “emerging market.” It will remain the greatest draw for international investment and migration of the superior because nowhere and no-one rewards innovation as well and as quick as Americans.
Barack Obama’s approval ratings are Bush-sized just after 18 months in office. A disaster on biblical scale is unfolding in the US Gulf. What nature has built over billions of years is being destroyed by Big oil in three months. A whole continent of cement and steel is in despair. Millions are out of their jobs. Even the two wars cannot give employment to everyone. Millions of homes have been taken away from highly indebted families. States are passing draconian laws against immigrants – to arrest and deport anyone on slightest suspicion of being an immigrant. The American left and right is more divided than ever before. America is a nation divided and desperate.So is it the end of “Yes We Can “spirit of America? The end of the American dream?
Oh These Americans !Hardly so. The biggest driver in American life is not oil, nor war. Though it can appear so – American dependence on oil, junk food and defense industry is addictive. But there is always an underlying current of innovation in America. American might appear a victim of its bad habits – but it is also constantly working to undermine them. American spirit is as much about greed and gain as it is about innovation. It is not enough for Americans to have standard half dozen flavors of Italian ice creams. There are more types of Italian pizzas in a single burrough of New York than in all of Italy. Americans dont stick to any one invention, innovation, product, or celebrity with lasting emotion. See the bru-ha-ha over Apple’s iphone4. It does everything short of transporting humans. There is more innovation packed in this one phone by one company in the five years than sum of all innovation by some civilizations . And yet, Americans are unhappy because the dman signal drops if touched on the wrong spot. Barack Obama has brought truly path breaking ideas and laws to America – and no one is impressed. Nathan’s is offering a fifty percent discount on banana split if you bring your own banana. How cool is that ! And yet Nathan’s stock is stale. It is because Americans are looking for ever greater achievement through innovation.American nation and American dream is not about yet another oriental buffet with lobster legs in yet another strip mall surrounded by a Subway sandwich franchise run by Pakistani migrants and Dunkin Donuts operated by Indians. American innovation is at work creating a dozen new flavours of slurpy each summer while Indian restaurants still serve butter chicken. Americans are never done pushing the limits of innovation.Boeing’s Dreamliner 787 aircraft, First Solar’s thin film photovoltaic technology, Apple’s iphone, Google’s Wave, Maggie Moose’s icecream with crushed Oreo cookies.. the list is endless. It is easy to be disheartened by American melancholy. It is easy to be persuaded that America is done. But there is an ongoing courage and innovation about America that tells another story. America is just getting started. The constant debate and shrill noise of America is because of instant boredom with what is. America is always about what can be. Americans are always tinkering to create some thing new. The result can be uber ridiculous to plain crazy. But Americans go on innovating.American Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, an MIT professor and a Noble Prize winning physicist summed up American approach in a speech in Copenhagen during the Climate Change summit. While many ministers and governments of the world tried to extort billions from America for “environmental damage” and a legacy of climate change emissions – Americans were thinking different. Chu talked about throwing – he said investing – billions of dollars on absolutely mad technical innovations. Swimming pools converted into batteries to store electricity, fuel cells creating energy from water and air, cheaper better photovoltaic technologies to make affordable electricity from sunlight, car batteries and engines that will make electric cars mainstream. But Chu and his effort could be all pointless. American innovation is not a government sponsored program. It is within the American DNA that someone somewhere in a garage or basement is attacking a problem with irreverence towards all that is. No rules, no tradition, no cultural script applies to these innovative Americans. Their words and their religious dogma is no insight into how they function.American story is constantly being re-written. The sheer scale and depth of innovation in American society constantly pushes the frontiers of humanity. All this innovation may not be for the benefit of humanity. It might be senseless, pointless, useless but it is progress.United States of America is world’s fastest “emerging market.” It will remain the greatest draw for international investment and migration of the superior because nowhere and no-one rewards innovation as well and as quick as Americans.
The American dream is just beginning.
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