, it cost 37 cents a bushel to ship wheat by rail from Chicago to New York. By 1870, the cost had fallen to 26 cents a bushel, and by 1890 it was 14 cents a bushel. In 1880 when Britain had about 16000 miles of track, America had more than 90,000 miles connecting an entire continent and one and a half times as many people. With a population 50 percent as large as Germanys and a far higher income per person, Americans consumed three to four times as much in goods and services as the Germans did. From a colony of only about two million people, America had become an economic giant nearly 100 million strong. America, of course, did not and could not maintain their dominance. We lost some of our edge and some nations actually gave us a huge challenge in becoming the economic leaders. Lets take a look at actually what we lost.During the 1950s and 1960s the United States assumed we were above all others. Our society felt superior, and that we led and everyone else followed. We had the best goods and services, benefits, health care, and the least amount of poverty. We were closed minded to the fact that other nations would have the same or better marketplaces than us.In the early 1900s the United States had the largest amount of iron ore reserves in the world, but by the 1960s we owned only a fraction of it. Also, during those early years the automobile industry had 33% of the world exports and by the 1970s our total exports fell to 18%. Foreign producers took over our entire electronics industry. We lost the dominance of worldwide exports when at one time we over powered the market and purchased cheap natural resources. When Japan started to successfully export their goods and services, Americans thought it was because of their low wages. However, even when there was an increase in wages Japan still produced and sold more than the United States. During the post war in 1973, Japans productivity growth did not fall nearly as low as t...
