I think most Americans just realise that relying on social capital (aka cronyism, handouts, blackmail and bribes) is a very shitty way to run business. I've just finished reading Jim Spilsbury's Accidental Airline, and the amount of cronyism back in the 50s in Canada was astounding. These days things are a lot better.
I guess Russia still has a long way to go, given that they only started using capitalism a couple of decades ago.