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Originally Posted by Stitchawl
Kaz, I don't think it's a case of 'us versus everyone else.' I thinks it's 'us as we were versus us as we are now and as we could be.' I say this as an American. One who paid his dues in full during the mid 60's in Vietnam. I loved the US then and I love it now. This is why I want to see it reclaim the world position it once held before it sat back on its laurels and allowed #2, #3, and #4 to try harder and surpass it.
When I was 16 years old there were eleven American television manufacturers. Today there are none. When I was 16 years old, nine of the ten top world banks were American. Today there are none in the top ten. Amazon started as a book seller. Today it has diversified so far as to sell backyard water parks (which, by the way, they won't ship to my location,) medicines, sporting goods, clothing, etc. Diversification is needed in today's marketplace, but so is globalization. As we e-book buyers have discovered, there are plenty of other retailers out there willing and able to sell to us where ever in the world we are located. For every book we purchase from Fictionwise or the Sony Bookstore, that's one less book that Amazon has sold. Eventually that will have to enter into the thinking of the policy makers. If they want to maximize their advertising dollar, they must begin to think globally. Diversification isn't enough.
I'd love to see Amazon increase its business. But I'd like to see it do that by selling to a broader market.
Stitchawl
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I couldn't agree with you more! I've seen the people in my country become complacent and uncaring on a number of fronts. The deterioration of the manufacturing industry upon which much of our economy was founded is, however, a direct result of globalization. I'm not against globalization, as long as it's done thoughtfully and with better business models than those that have been used up to this point. Frankly, I think much of the woes of our current economy can be laid at the feet of greedy CEO's who sold out their companies for their own profit and in so doing, sold out their workers. My husband used to work for AT&T Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies. Need I say more?!?
Sorry, now it's my turn to step off the soapbox. 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Another point to consider is that the USA has a "domestic market" of 300-odd million people. For many companies, that is a perfectly adequate customer base and they have neither the desire nor the need to go through all the hassles of dealing with international customers. This is, of course, annoying for us Europeans, who expect companies to trade internationally (because pretty much all companies in Europe do), but it is understandable.
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This is actually the point I would have made if I had not been so aggrieved by the "us vs them" feeling of the original question, although I would not have been as successful and as eloquent. Thank you, HarryT.
As to my initial statement, though, forgive my using "always", ficbot, you were correct to call me on that.
Oh, and slightly off topic, My family and I have excellent health care. My parents and my husbands parents have excellent coverage through medicare. I completely agree that there are problems with the system, but I wouldn't say that it is horrid.