Dan Weinstein

Distillation of David Brook’s “Why the U.S. Will Always Be Rich”

David Brooks begins by describing the similar economic philosophies of

Americans figures such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Walt Whitman, and Allen

Ginsberg. He explains that they argued against excessive wealth because, as Brooks

summarizes, “great wealth leads to decadence and complacency, and hence to corruption

and decay.” While these politicians and poets emphasized modest living, modern

American culture seems to have different values. He describes how Americans with a

college education typically earn more than 99.9% of people in the world and stresses that

the United States is an extremely wealthy country. While early Americans worried about

such affluence and believed that it would ultimately lead to economic decline and

political instability, we have strangely continued to grow richer.

He attributes America’s continuous growth and stability to an “abundance

mentality” with which people are careful when they spend, but nevertheless spend freely

in a constant social class struggle. As Brooks states, “In the land of abundance, a person's

lower-class status is always temporary. If the complete idiot next door has managed to

pull himself up to the realm of Lexus drivers, why shouldn't the same thing happen to

you?” He connects this to the idea that Americans are driven to work, to be active, and to

spend, turning life into a “thrust toward perpetual gain and aspiration fulfillment.” For

instance, he connects this mentality to a surprisingly high rate of community involvement

and charitable donation.

In the end, Brooks critiques the economic philosophies that he initially

introduced. Although he does not condone modern consumerism, he does not dismiss it
because he considers the positive effects it has on the American lifestyle. While the

philosophers at the beginning of the essay argue that American consumerism and luxury

are bound to lead to corruption, Brooks explains that this culture sustains our economy.