In my humble opinion the term Corporate Capitalism is closer to the description. The fact that that the American model of corporate capitalism is predominant is no accident. It works, i.e. it makes money. And this also is no accident; Love 'em or hate 'em the yanks have something we europeans sorely lack, and that is a "can-do" mentality. Want your tyres changed at 3am? there's someone that'll do it for you. Want your prescription glasses fixed during yr lunch break? No problem sir.
Here in Europe? Forget it. It's erm, hmmm, I dunno, it's my lunch break, sorry sir we're short staffed today and so on and on and on.
That's why the image of America is so appealing.
While I partly agree with you especially about the Corporate capitalisation comment I think this is actually the problem not the solution and one of the underlying themes of this thread i.e. Starbucks coffee is expensive flavoured water/coffee/milk shakes. The desire to make money at any cost and to find more and more devious ways to do it is ruining the country in the process. Take Wal Mart for instance...they build on the outside of town and before you know it downtown main street is deserted, shut up, as local businesses close in the face of corporate undercutting. I saw this last week quite clearly in Monticello, NY -I had last visited this place in 1992 where it had a bustling downtown main street...back again after 16 years and everything including the bars/pizza shops are closed....oh look a new Wal Mart on the way out of town.
And the example of "change of tires at 3am" - have you lived here? Please come and try and find such a place...it dosent exist (at least not in the places Ive lived/visited and Ive been to 44/50 states. The "can-do" mentality of US v Europe is a myth in modern times. It may have been true post-WW2 but these days....I dont think so...now its Union-controlled and the can-do has been replaced with its-not-my-job or its-going-to-cost you extra or whatever. There are lazy people everywhere and there are entrepeneurs on both sides. The money-making machine that is the US has created the sub-prime housing marking, the credit card debt, the 70% obesity problem (through corporations like MacDonalds, Coke etc that flood the market with cheap crap but are very successful at marketing their product) in some States....is this what you call success? Money cant buy you love 
cheers
Andy
Andy, here in NY you can get your car repaired at 3 am. There are areas in which repair shops cater to the taxi and livery car industry.
Monticello was a real thriving resort area when I was a child and it slowly degraded as the ability of the Jewish population to be welconed in more places increased. It will be on the upswing shorly as they are brining Casino gambling into the racetrack area.
My students are all unionized Railroad workers and they have the mentality you speak of, but, the unions are waning and people are expected to produce in the private sector.
The US is about money, always has been. The Irish, Scots, Germans, Italians, Jews, poles and lately Hispanics and Asians came here to make a buck which they could not do at home.
When I was a kid your old man put money in the Bank and got 2-3%, maybe bought a Municipal Bond that yeilded a few percent tax free. The financial market was a stable place with modest returns and very little risk. Those with some real bucks could go into Mutaul Funds and individual stocks and take some risk.
Once 1970's came along, the average guy was seduced by the Banks and Brokerage Houses into investing in higher yeild and riskier investments the trouble began. The average guy now expected double digit returns on his money and the Fund Managers needed to deliver those returns, due to that you wound up with Junk Bonds, The Savings and Loan crisis, now rhe Mortage meltdown and Credit crunch, any way to get those returns was used in a loosely regulated environment.
Again, the place is all about money and that leads to greed. I was in subprime lending for 18 months and trust me, my clients were greedy. They talk like victims now, but they really wanted to know how much I could get them, when I had to explain how they needed to pay it back they could care less. I used the commissions I got to pay of my own Mortgage.
