he United States. Competition forced businesses to invest more and keep prices lower. IBM only had 2,500 competitors in 1965. Competitors grew to a high level of 50,000 in 1992. Countries like Mexico, India, China, Indonesia, and Thailand jumped on the ban-wagon of mass-production. Because of the reduction of trade barriers, free trade was widely established and the United States could no longer monopolize the market and trade. As you read labels and tags most goods and services are made in Japan or china. Over the years the U. S. became a net importer of many materials and natural resources. As times changed raw materials and certain metals were being replaced by more sophisticated productions. Most Metals and glass products were replaced with different types of plastics.Workers were being replaced by machines, but the workers that held on to their jobs could only work part time so benefits would not have to be distributed. Jobs were scarce, people with skills and education stood little chance of becoming employed. Standards of living dropped, unemployment grew, and poverty struck dramatically. Plain and simple, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. These are conditions that we as a nation created and there is no way of undoing what we started. However, Americans are optimists. We are taught to be optimistic about everything. We are indoctrinated in the notion things will always get better. There is nothing the American people cannot overcome. We adopt sayings that reflect this: We have nothing to fear but fear itself, the power of positive thinking, Yes, you can, and Ill do it my way. No matter how bad things get we still expect someone or something to make it better. Technology is what most people point to as the item that will restore and maintain Americas prosperity.We are taught from a very early age that technology has been the driving force behind Americas success. We were made to memorize a string of in...
