Did you ever think about the competitive advantages of the USA? I did not think so. In this blog I will try to point out a few.
I think that we all think about how we might take advantage of our personal competitive advantages. If you were a kid in high school who was 6'-7", you might think about using your height advantage in the game of basketball. Look at the Pro's, they are all well over 6' and are part of a very select group of very tall people. What if you could run faster than all the kids in school? Would you take advantage of that fact in some way? You know you would. How about all those kids who do not have any of the advantages described above? What do they do? They may try to play basket ball or try out for the track team, but life will be very difficult for them and you know it.
How about a country like the USA? Don't advantages work the same way in the economy or quality of life? Down deep, you know they do. How about a country that is mostly a swampy jungle? What kind of economics and quality of life could a person expect to attain there? Are you starting to see that the different "advantages" that a country is blessed with are critical for the citizens success. If that is the case, why would any country want to give up one or more of their advantages?
What do you think that the advantages are of the USA over many other countries around the world? Why don't you list down a few? I will list down a few for you.
(1) Low population density. This is critical because if we do have any advantages like natural resources they will be divided between fewer people. Even if China had as many natural resources as the USA, they would have go be divided up between so many more people that each would only end up with a very small amount.
(2) Energy in the form of Coal, Oil and Hydro power. You have to know that the whole industrial revolution was really a shift from muscle to the harnessing energy of different types. Nothing has changed in this area, only the use of more and more energy per person as our quality of life has increased.
(3) Rich soil combined with good weather. The USA is one of the few countries in the world where we have plenty of high quality food at a very low price. The USA is a food exporter while many other countries are food importers.
(4) Productive population. This is a critical one and I am not so sure that this will continue to be an advantage. We now import over 55% of our medical doctors and about 25% of our advanced technical workers. I remind you that the USA school students rank 40th in Math which is a good indicator of the quality of our home grown technical workers of tomorrow.
I think this might be enough advantages to start with. The next step is to see how we are doing with taking advantage of our natural advantages. First, look at population density? We know that the more people we have in the USA, the smaller the share for each person of those natural resources. If we allow more immigration, it will clearly reduce the amount of natural resources for each USA citizen. If families in the USA breed more children it will also reduce the share per individual. If we do get more immigrants, the least we should expect is that they will produce more than they will consume and that includes the dilution of our natural resources. More people or workers might mean a bigger GNP, but if may also mean a smaller share of that GNP per person. Starting to see the picture?
How about energy? That is a big one where the USA enjoys a big advantage compared to most of the world. If that is the case, why would we want to cancel that important advantage by passing laws or regulations about its use? It is true that Coal and Oil also emit carbon dioxide, but we also have a low population density and vast forests and productive farms that take that same carbon dioxide out of the air. Very few countries in the world can match the USA on the above. Hatti is now very over populated and has cut down most of their forests. Rather than the USA punishing our citizens, why doesn't places like Hatti clean up their acts. I could say the same for places like India or Guatemala.
How about our farm land? Why should we not eat beef? We have the natural resources to grow more beef than we can consume and are a major exporter. Why should we take land that can only grow grass and let it rot or burn rather than feed cattle? It is totally illogical and you know it. How about our forests? If we don't harvest them, they will eventually die, burn or rot and in either case they will put back into the atmosphere all the carbon that they have taken out of the air. Do you see any logic in "saving the forests" and for what?
The final on is our productive population. In the past the quality and quantity of our population was an advantage, but the model of the future is very different. The USA school children are currently ranked 40th in the world in Math. If there was ever a tall tent pole that predicted the future, it has to be our low ranking in Math. We know that it is possible to cancel out the lack of a natural resource if you are strong in another area that is a critical resource. Math just happens to be that one. Can you imagine some small country some where else in the world that has almost zero natural resources gaining the advantage over the USA because of the quality of the intellect of their citizens? Historically and even today, Switzerland is one of those countries and there are many more. When I was growing up they used to talk about Switzerland taking a pound of steel and making a hundred watches because they did not have any of the natural resources that the USA does. Even today, Switzerland has a higher per capita income and net worth than does the USA.
The final lesson, don't give away an advantage.
