In People of Plenty: Economic Abundance and the American Character, published in 1954, David Potter made a compelling case for the proposition that the United States is a nation whose national character has been shaped by the perception that there is limitless economic abundance. He argued that Americans believed that wealth could be created while Europeans believed it could only be redistributed. Americans and Europeans would both answer “I do!” to the question “Who wants to be a millionaire?” The difference was that Americans believed it was possible, with the right combination of intelligence, hard work, a little luck and good timing, to become a millionaire. Europeans held no such illusions.
