Competition. It is the keystone of capitalism. Adam Smith, developing the first tenets of capitalism in The Wealth of Nations, asserted that free trade at home and abroad was the basis of prosperity (Lekachman & Loon 42-43). In so stating at the very beginning capitalism's onset, Smith anticipated the present-day evolution of an interdependent global economy.
The world is "shrinking." This is the cliche of contemporary thinking - and the reality of improved transportation, communications and international political stability. Prior to the international mobilization of major portions of the globe in the pursuit of World War II, transportation and communications within "First World" countries were weak at best. For "Third World" nations, largely under the thumb of imperialist First Worlders at the time, telecommunications were practically nil, roads unpaved and foreign trade was generally ground to a halt by the Great Depression. The post-War era changed all that, powered by the Capitalist v. Communist "competition" of the Cold War. First World nations were rebuilt rapidly. Third World colonies became, first, independent, then (on a case-by-case basis) prosperous. By comparison with the pre-War model, from the 1960s on the world became a humming marketplace - motored by a self-sufficient U.S. economy.
Despite the political arguments , the United States' international trade position is where it has always been since the end of World War II: squarely in the middle of the major players. Immediately after the Second World War, the U.S. dominated global trade for two decades. Until the mid-1960s the rest of the world's national economies were too war-damaged and weak to compete fully with America. Now, Japan and Germany being the major success stories, the U.S. economy has strong competitors. More than that, the European Community and several Asian economies (Singapore, China, Taiwan, Korea) are in strong positions to c...