American Capitalism Essay -- Economics Politics

American Capitalism Capitalism - "An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state." America was an ideal breeding ground for capitalism, a relatively new country, in need of young entrepreneurs to kick start it's already buoyant economy. The country was an ideal place to get rich quick, an idea that inspired the immigrants that poured into it each year. In America it seemed you could turn your rags to riches in no time at all. It's this idea that fueled the American Dream Capitalism was motivated in the 20s by the Republican government. They believed in non-interference or "laissez faire", the policy of letting businesses regulate themselves and to have any caps in how far or how much they go. The government thought that businessmen could work best in a climate made by themselves, not coordinated by the government. Americans believed in rugged individualism, the fact that anyone could make a fortune if they put in enough hard graft. Republicans helped American capitalism prospering by introducing tariff barriers, making it that all goods coming from abroad had to taxed heavily before entering the country, meaning that prices in the USA for those products raised so the foreign companies could still make a profit. When presented with two items of similar quality, one with ultra-inflated prices from England, and one with a cheap price from America, it's likely that a normal person would choose the cheap American home brand product. By doing this Republicans helped the idea of American capitalism to prosper. As well as being the ... ... towering monolith such as this falls, it's going to make a sizable dent. It triggered off the great depression, people lost all their money, all jobs were stopped, property was taken away and life became a nightmare to all involved. Of course, some people survived relatively unscathed, but, as normal, those people were the rich. The whole concept of an American dream could have worked if the country had taken their time, realised that there was no rush, if companies had expanded slowly and if people hadn't been so interested in the stock market. Of course all these problems came from the idea of an American dream and people, being only human, are selfish and want to have more money, and more money is what is offered in a system of capitalism. The American dream soon turned sour and turned into an American nightmare.