There is a very strong sense in the West now that the pursuit of money excuses any and all behaviours. That the ill treatment of customers and staff is acceptable if the shareholders are raking in the cash. And I can’t help but wonder – is this because of the culture of the US?
This is not in any way evidence-based; it is purely my own opinion so please take it or leave it as you wish. It is also not intended to upset individual Americans who I generally think are great people as all people generally are.
It is 250 years since America won its independence. A watershed year. I never truly realised, though, just how rapacious a country it was until President Trump came to power again in 2024. I didn’t give as much thought to the workings of the billionaire cabal until it became so obvious that he was serving, not the American people, but his own family and those who financially and reputationally supported his presidential run. People like Elon Musk with his social media channel, Mark Zuckerberg and his social media outlets, the owners of YouTube and theirs (see the pattern yet?) as well as their deep pockets. In addition, the very deep pockets of Mr Bezos, Peter Thiel and Sam Altman all of whom stood to benefit from Donald Trump being in the White House supported by the Thiel puppet of JD Vance. I’m not saying that these are the people who are bringing down the West, though they are helping. No, they are people who have grown up by and large in an environment where it is acceptable for them to do so because cash or profit is king. Regardless of the impact on the environment, humanity and even the solar system.
Many people established what is now the United States of America, ironically enough given their administration’s stance on the topic, as immigrants. Unless you have a Native American background, you are related to an immigrant in one form or another. Either the immigration was enforced or your ancestors decided to move to the New World and all it apparently promised (and largely failed to deliver). And that, I think, is where things went wrong.
The immigration to America was (other than those for whom it was enforced) either fleeing persecution of some description or because of seeing a commercial opportunity. But there was, as I think about it, a fourth reason. And that was the immensely wealthy of Europe deciding that they weren’t keen on the emerging constraints on their behaviour. Don’t get me wrong, Europe of the 18th century was far from liberal but there was a very clear direction of travel happening especially after the French Revolution. Whilst that may have been built on the American War of Independence and the whole thrust of equality before the law, let’s face it, in America it was still selective equality before the law. If you were not white, you were not equal even if you were the rightful occupants of the land or had been forced to the land. And that wasn’t about to change any time soon. America might have been ancient as a land with long-held cultures, traditions and customs, it wasn’t a European Enlightenment culture and so was seen as being somehow less than. No, the ultra-wealthy of Europe saw a different potential in America. It saw freedom. It saw a way of imposing itself without the limits of European culture and the emerging liberalism of the 19th century.
In 19th century Europe, with the rise of the Industrial Revolution came the rise of the trade union movement. The sense that the wealthy couldn’t just do as they pleased with their workforce which deserved to have fundamental rights enshrined in employment. They deserved to not work at weekends, to only work a set number of hours a day, to have holiday time and (as we call them in the UK) Bank Holidays. To be safe in the workplace. And this was just the start. The trade union movement spawned the Labour Party advocating for working people in Parliament and becoming the one of the two major political parties of the past century in the UK. From that came the National Health Service, the Welfare State, benefits for parents including paid maternity leave in the 20th and 21st centuries. Versions of this exist across Europe but not in the US. And while it wasn’t there when the likes of the Rothschilds, Carnegies, Du Ponts, and Lehmans emigrated to the US I do believe the writing was on the wall. But in the New World? There were no rules. There were no pesky trade unionists spoiling the party.
And so, the culture was born. The dollar over everything. Profit of paramount importance, more than the wellbeing of people. People were just there to serve the wealthy to grow their wealth. There was no sense of service – the part of Jesus’ teachings the overly Christian Americans have conveniently overlooked – just of serving. What has been created is a system where healthcare can kill you or at the very least bankrupt you, women who give birth are not protected by any part of the state at all, work is of paramount importance but your employer will provide you with little holiday entitlement, no maternity or paternity support, and unions are basically not allowed. No wonder the culture of ready meals and fast food emerged, families needed something to help them with the burden of no work/life balance, just work. Which has led to an explosion of obesity (not to mention more ways for the rich to get richer) and the resultant stress of how to afford the medical problems that ensue (in a medical system where the rich get richer). It’s horrific.
And yet, we have been led to believe there is an ‘American Dream’. So, what happened? The Americanisation of Europe to get some of that dream without the nuisance of moving to the US. The European liberal values did not infect the US, their work until you drop values are infecting Europe. The ‘greed is good’ ethos.
We also have the obesity crisis with a measure of their ultra-processed foods and fast foods as well as the convenience now of business such as Just Eat; we have some of the work practices of the US (think Amazon warehouses) though the excesses cannot luckily be borne out in their entirety thanks to our legislative system. But while we have some checks and balances to ensure we aren’t completely Americanised, we still have a system where the rich get richer and our politicians court it. I remember when working in the public sector that to have Amazon locate in your area was a gift to the point where Central Government will do nothing about their dubious tax practices in case they follow through on their regular threats to leave the country. My view is to say to them, ‘okay, go’. They won’t of course because they want access to the UK market. We allow these organisations to hold us to ransom, effectively, and all that happens is the rich get richer while people suffer.
I have increasingly reached the conclusion that the American culture as exemplified by Trump et al is as toxic to the individual as the Chinese or Russian as exemplified by Xi and Putin. No, I think it’s time we decided on the culture we want. Perhaps one where people are important. As Branson once said, staff are a business’ most important asset. It’s time we started to see life through that lens.
Louisa Simpson 