Guns and Butter Blog

Normally, Asia Times Online is full of anti-American invectives, with imperialism being a favorite charge. Well, it seems that the editors of the Times do seem to have some semblance of balance to print this piece. Noting that imperialism is a policy of enriching the conquerors from the labors of the conquered, the article goes on to state the following:

By the same token, it is meaningless to speak of an "American Empire" when Americans incline to sloth less than any other people in the industrial world. Americans worked a fifth more hours in 2002 than in 1970, while Europeans and Japanese worked a fifth fewer, reported the Wall Street Journal last Thursday, citing a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Idle, inherited wealth figures small among America's rich, whose fortunes mainly derive from long hours and risk-taking. 

Americans work hard because the world's entrepreneurs become Americans in order to work hard. In 1998 one-third of the scientific workforce in Silicon Valley was Asian, according to a 1998 survey by the Public Policy Institute of California; more important, Asians headed one-quarter of Silicon Valley enterprises. No American matches the prototype better than my Asia Times Online colleague Henry C K Liu, who inveighs against "US imperialism" from a New York business address. With all due respect, Henry's choice of address does more to promote the United States than his invective does to harm it.

What can I say? I am just stunned. The piece is a very cogent case for America -- well worth a read.