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Nor, it seems, can anyone else on the world stage right now. Matsushita's purchase of MCA, like Sony's ownership of CBS Records and Columbia Pictures, signals a recognition of the value of integrating the yin and the yang of leisure economics, the hardware of VCRs and DAT and the software of music and programming. "Our entertainment is the one thing the Japanese can't make better or cheaper than us," says David Geffen, the largest single shareholder in the recent MCA-Matsushita deal. "That's why they are buying in. But they will have zero influence in the product. Companies don't decide what gets made; the content of American entertainment is inspirationally motivated."
Michael Eisner, chairman of Walt Disney Co., and other industry executives argue that the unique character of American entertainment is the result of the polyglot nature of the society itself -- and the clash of cultures and races and traditions within it. The U.S. is the only country in the world with such a heterogeneous mix, uniquely able to invent rap music, Disney World, Las Vegas, rock 'n' roll, Hulk Hogan, Hollywood and Stephen King.
A whole school of traditional economists is worried, however, that infatuation with the entertainment business and its glitzy success is symptomatic of a self-indulgent, spendthrift society deep into self-deceit. "The pre-eminence of entertainment is illusory success," warns Allen Lenz, economist for the Chemical Manufacturers Association. "It's no substitute for manufacturing. We need balance in our economy, not just the goods of instant gratification. The future of America is not in Michael Jackson records, $130 Reeboks and Die Hard 2. The fact is, you can't make it on Mickey Mouse."
Or can you? Disney's Eisner is part of a powerful cadre of modern-day Hollywood moguls who have acquired what their predecessors only hoped to have: real global power -- economic, social, political. They exercise it through their stewardship of global entertainment conglomerates in the midst of a communications revolution that has changed the nature of the world. Eisner, Fox's Rupert Murdoch, Paramount's Martin Davis, Steve Ross of Time Warner (which owns the parent company of TIME), Ted Turner of Turner Communications, record executive Geffen, superagent Michael Ovitz and others have an astonishing influence on what the world sees, hears, reads and thinks about.
"The most important megatrend of the century is the availability of free time," maintains Italian Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis, who is working on a book about the new dynamics of global economy. "This is the reason the U.S. will remain the most important economy in the world -- because its GNP is increasingly geared to entertainment, communications, education and health care, all of which are about individuals 'feeling well,' as opposed to the 19th century concept of services intended to protect the workplace and production."
De Michelis' notion illustrates another aspect of today's entertainment business: the lines between entertainment, communications, education and information are increasingly blurred, and the modern U.S. entertainment company is uniquely positioned to provide software in all four areas.