The answer points to ingenuity due to a lack of resources which is susceptible to obsolescence. School in the USA does a lot more than just educate, for instan

The answer points to ingenuity due to a lack of resources which is susceptible to obsolescence. School in the USA does a lot more than just educate, for instance child protection services and employment. The USA also takes everyone, specifically the violent and malicious, due to compassion. The USA suffered: - multiple World Wars - a fifty year Cold War that was just as bad - multiple nuclear standoffs - horrific terrorism - black market drug smuggling, probably the gravest problem today - repeated invasions - a Civil War which involved foreign intervention - attempts at colonial occupation - originally being made as a death camp and penal colony