The analysis of the American’s position as to preaching one set of beliefs but practicing another is based on the research provided by David Brooks “The Culture of Debt”, Jackson Lears “The American Way of Debt” and Benjamin Franklin “13 Virtues”. The authors managed to illustrate the cultural atmosphere of the USA concentrating on the social and economical position of the country.
Jackson Lears in his work “The American Way of Debt” discloses the position of American culture suffering debts of global resources. He states that there is a division of debt into productive and consumptive. The author of the article managed to highlight the aspect that the morality of Americans in terms of economical and financial position has changed with the centuries. The level of bankruptcy and the number of borrowers increased a lot.
At the beginning of the XX century, the Americans preached indebtedness which was promoted as a way of workers’ disciplining. Nowadays Americans became more independent borrowers practicing this type of financial stability almost in every field of service and goods. Thus, the Americans strived for reaching something trying to avoid borrowings and debts while the modern generation promotes the opposite position.
In the analysis of the work “The Culture of Debt” written by David Brooks, one should note that the author tried to promote the rapid change of the financial morality and national attitude of people to easy money. A lot of Americans promoting loans and credit systems seem to go bankrupt very quickly. People are to be responsible for their actions; they should understand the value of easy money and try to take measures in order to prevent financial instability. The author states that people contradict their desires; they strive for earning more for them to be respected, but take borrowings and suffer bankruptcy. Their beliefs are in most cases damaged by themselves.
Benjamin Franklin tried to promote the 13 virtues which are considered to be the most important in terms of morality disclosing the character of the time people live. he managed to depict the points of sincerity and justice underlining the significance of being frank to themselves; the present situation on the private property market cannot be compared with that one of 1600-1860.
All the authors managed to stress the main idea of market transformation not only in the USA but in the whole world. The monetary system was covered by moralism during that period. People strived to reach high goals, while nowadays the society tries to hide under the mask of moralism. Lears proved that the generation of modern economical development tries to satisfy the needs with the help of credit system improvement; as a result, a great part of the population suffers bankruptcy and instability.
The modern economy stopped developing the values promoted at the end of the XIX century; during that period people tried to buy expensive goods on time payments but their financial position was controlled by a special Finance Corporation in order to avoid the economical instability of the population. The contemporary economical system is considered to be more independent, but this position usually leads to social disability in the area of economy and finance. Nevertheless, the thrift golden age covering the modern world differentiates Americans of the XXI century from those living in XIX.
References
Brooks, David. (2008). The Culture of Debt. Columnist.
Lears, Jackson. (2006). The American Way of Debt. The way we live now.
Franklin, Benjamin. 13 Virtues.