American lifestyle and culture

If there’s one single motivation uniting all Americans, it’s their desire to be rich and famous (I want it all NOW!). It’s the American Dream to be rich (Americans live on dreams, particularly rags-to-riches dreams) and money is openly admired and everyone’s favourite topic. Many Americans will do (almost) anything for money, which is the country’s national language (along with sport). To be considered seriously rich in the US, you must be fabulously wealthy with a fleet of gold-plated Cadillacs, luxury yacht, private jet and a mansion ‘on the hill’ with scores of servants.

Americans are the greatest consumers in the history of the world and their primary occupation is spending money – when not spending money they’re thinking about spending it. In the US, everything and everyone is a commodity to be bought and sold for dollars (Americans believe every man has his price). Displaying the correct ‘labels’ is vital, as your status is determined by what you wear, drive, inhabit or own. Status is everything to Americans, who buy more status symbols than any other nation and believe there’s no point in buying anything expensive if it isn’t instantly recognisable and desirable. Ostentatious consumption is the order of the day (if you’ve got it, flaunt it!) and modesty is un-American and to be condemned. Most Americans can never have too much money and firmly believe that anyone who thinks money cannot buy happiness has simply been shopping in the wrong places!

Size is everything and bigger is always better; big cars, big buildings, big breasts, big homes, big butts, big jobs, big pay cheques, big cities, big football players, big Macs, big guns, big stores – everything is big (most things in the US come in three sizes: big, huge and gigantic!). The US is a land of GIANTS, where everyone is twice as BIG and three times as LOUD as ‘normal’ people (and not just Texans). To Americans, size and quality are inextricably linked and your success in life is illustrated by the size of your office and the number of zeros on the end of your salary (Americans are impressed by numbers). Likewise new, which always equates to improved, and is infinitely better than old in the American throwaway society. Americans are continually ‘trashing’ or trading in last year’s model, whether it’s their car, home or spouse.

When an American buys a new toy or car, friends and acquaintances are summoned from miles around to admire it and hear what it cost (provided, of course, that it was expensive). Money is the measure of your success and wealth announces that you’re one of life’s winners (as Americans are fond of saying “If you’re so smart, how come you ain’t rich?”), although inherited wealth is less praiseworthy than a fortune amassed by a self-made man (stealing is acceptable, provided you aren’t caught). Americans not only believe that you can have everything, but that you owe it to yourself to have it all; beauty, education, fame, health, intelligence, love, money, etc. – if they cannot have it all, most Americans will settle for money. The best of everything is every American’s birthright, and they will borrow themselves into bankruptcy if they have to in order to provide it for themselves and their families.

Unlike many foreigners, Americans have no ambition to retire as soon as they have enough money (they never have enough) – they cannot bear the thought of someone else getting a bigger slice of the pie while they’re idle. Americans love winners (losers are instantly consigned to the trash can of history) and being on the winning team isn’t just everything – it’s the only thing (in the US, you aren’t allowed to admit defeat until you’re dead – not that rich Americans believe in dying).