I remember a story about one of the founders of Sun Microsystems - a German - who said that he came to America to found the company because he never would have been able to get it off the ground in Germany due to red tape.
I had an interesting experience some years ago when I returned from working in the Middle East. I came back to the States through Europe, and I could see the various work ethics from the ME to the US. The author is right--Americans just plain work harder (don't even get me started on the ME work ethic!).