Whether we agree or disagree, the American economy remains the monolithic juggernaut that the world looks to for guidance. Even during recent memory and the financial crisis that unfolded, regional blocks, rising economic powerhouses, and fading economies remain committed to US economic policy development. In these uncertain times of US economic sustainability, there remains a blind ambition to support the American drive for economic prosperity. Is this an anachronism of the historical British tradition of imperial power, embodied in American capitalism and US exceptionalism?
It is difficult to say whether American capitalism and US exceptionalism is an anachronism.
The US still has substantial economic force through its technology based companies, especially those that are producing energetic and creative ideas. While the manufacturing dimension to economic development may have shifted elsewhere, the ideas and innovation component of the American economy remains significant. Apple is the touchstone of development and innovation.
At the other end of the spectrum is the American financial industry. On the one hand you have the major players achieving profits that reflect a successful turn about from the 2007 crisis. On the other hand, the US banking industry remains in flux. There remains the constant pressure of credit downgrading to some of the US's venerable financial institutions. In other words, there are mixed message.
If there is one constant throughout the question of the American monolith, it is the constant pull to the US military domination. The American military industrial complex remains fixated on its own directive, regardless of the current economic conditions on the domestic front. This industry of business, government, and foreign policy "triangulation of American exceptionalism", appears to embody the elements of a declining imperialist nation in pursuit of domestic solutions through foreign policy action.
The sign of the times suggest that the American monolith continues to stand. More than this, though, other models or other movements of hegemony have not been successful--thus far--in dethroning the imperialist position of the iconic position of the American monolith.
The future of economic domination and economic sustainability of the American monolith appears to be questionable but still remains unchallenged. The unfolding of the American dream and exceptionalism could become a short history of the future.
