24. In those cases it is not the firms that cause the problems it is the
political institutions. America has policies orientated towards economic efficiency rather then equality. A major positive effect is that the average American has a higher income then just about any other nation on the planet. The major negitive associate with that is a high amount of economic determinism and a class of people who is not as well of as others. (When you compare the average person below the poverty line they have a higher standard of living then much of the world does.)
As far as pollution is concerned; people don't tend to realize the benefits that it provides. There are obviously some whose benefit is not as the cost but they make up a small percentage of the population. Also the level of pollution in America has been going down for many pollutants. Particulates for example have been decreasing in absolute terms since the 1970. The reason that this has happened is intelligent (for the most part) laws about pollution and technology improvements used to make industry greener. There are a series of models that deal with the eventual downward trend that happens as nations develop. Other forms of pollution have started a downward trend in terms of absolute amounts. As far as I know the level of pollution per unit of wealth generation for all pollutants has already decreased.
Most of what you are talking about in the later part of your paragraph deals with trade policy and the current situation around it. It is complicated and I am tired so I will wait until tomorrow to address this issue. It too is the “fault” of political institutions. Though it may be seen as bad I believe it follows a similar pattern to the so called curse of natural resources. That is that America has taken advantage of gains from trade early on making their present situation look worse then it actually is. The fact that neither Clinton nor Bush have addressed the situation is also problematic for future growth potential.
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