Alan Brinkley, in his book The Unfinished Nation, develops on new insights as of the history of the United States. In this respect, the author underlines the provocative idea of his book, starting with its title. In fact, one of the richest economies of the world, the United States, as a country, is based on the ethical, religious, and cultural diversity of the population. It means that multinationalism is a “credit card” of the US as a nation.
Owing to the analysis of the American history made by A. Brinkley, one encounters with facts of a controversial character. It concerns the idea of American powerful external policy and its constant internal conflicts. The world is changing, and the image of the US has been added by some political and economic events.
First of all, when talking about “the unfinished American nation,” Brinkley underlines points on ethnical identity. Hence, “the United States is the product of the toil and talent and luck of its people in the roughly 230 years since it became a nation” (Brinkley 15).
The American people are really versatile in their belonging to cultures and traditions. In this respect, it is not that easy to underline the features of the current wholeness of the American nation. However, one step in overcoming racial barriers is made due to Barak Obama and his presidency at the moment.
The current evaluation of Brinkley’s standpoints is taken into consideration in terms of the crisis of 2008. The thing is that it is Americans who provoked such a crisis by means of excessive mortgage loans. In fact, due to irrational financial operations by banks in the internal domain of the country suffered the whole world.
Such economic dominance is particular for the “melting pot” due to the primordial course on capitalistic relations in every agreement. One expert in the historical development of the US notes: “Our belief in a more benign economy made us more optimistic about the stock market and the housing market” (Acemoglu 2).
It means that in the last periods of time, there were different changes in the economic relations of the USA that reflected on different spheres of life. Such instance of Americans, as excessive consumers of everything produced in America and abroad, can be explained through the historical background of the national foundation.
History knows no occasions without some cause. In this respect, the US, as a superpower, is actively approaching different world organizations trying to impend its view on things going on. In turn, it makes some other players in the world arena annoyed essentially. The WTO Rounds, as per anticipating multilateral trade affairs, were patterned by the US leading role in correlating trade directions in the world.
On the other hand, Alan Brinkley underlines his book in the following way: “It can be disturbing because it reveals failures and injustices as well as triumphs” (Brinkley 19). This assumption is quite fair while looking at the interest rates in the US at the moment of Brinkley’s writing the book contrasting to current economic relations. Again, the rates of the American currency are said to fall down. In fact, it is happening now.
Predictions of financial experts are not so budding. However, some specialists admit that “the 10-year Treasury yield would be 80 basis points higher” (Warnock and Warnock 911). The aggregate consumption of goods is a result of different trends and tendencies that are combined in diverse ethnical entities of the US.
The historical cut of such a young nation shows that, along with some tragic events in the past of America, the economic framework is full of excessiveness. In return, it resulted in a huge debt of the United States to other countries.
At the very beginning of the US creation, several cities were greatly polarized in political affairs. It constitutes the role of the city in establishing higher bodies of governing and executing state power a few centuries ago. The current situation is far from going along with this point.
The thing is that the latest research showed that notwithstanding whether “the mayor is Democrat or Republican, it does not impact on the development of the city positively (Ferreira and Gyourko 400). Moreover, there are different events supporting this point. One of them is the facts reporting agenda-driven and even corrupt politics that are still in office.
Obama’s plan to decrease rates of unemployment in America is still ineffective. Racial discrimination is still has a place in the United States despite the fact that the president of the US is African American. Market hesitations outlined with high rates of jobless claims reflect the dramatic development of the American economy in the opposite direction.
One can say that the outcomes of the economic crisis are still felt in the economic elaboration in the United States. Alan Brinkley just outlines that American people are considered unfinished din their wholeness due to open frontiers for other peoples willing to cooperate. As a result, high rates of unemployment support this point of view.
Works cited
Acemoglu, Daron. ‘The Crisis of 2008: Structural Lessons for and from Economics’. MIT.
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. Ed. 5. NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009.
Ferreira, Fernando and Gyourko, Joseph. ‘Do Political Parties Matter? Evidence from U.S. Cities’. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124(1), (February, 2009): 399-422.
Warnock, Francis E. and Warnock Veronica Cacdac. ‘International capital flows and U.S. interest rates’. Journal of International Money and Finance 28(6), (October 2009): 903-919.