@FranceNeedsMorePower When I play Britain I also wish that. :) If you do that, however, then Austria should start with one, since it would do the CP even more damage to give the Entente any further advantage.
In regards to the American strategy, I agree that it is frustrating playing as the waking giant of the US only to be capped at a measly 20 IPCs throughout the whole game. There are a few ways to remedy this, but each has their pitfalls.
You could set up a national objective system in the game (as I have worked on before and enjoyed) in which the US graduates to higher income levels over a number of turns. For example, the first turn the US is at war it collects 2 more IPCs, the second turn 4, up through the 5th turn when they collect 10, at which point it stops increasing. This would need to be balanced by a strong CP national objective of some kind, and I have not spent the time investigating this yet.
If you are willing to fudge some history, once the US goes to war, Canada becomes a US (not British) territory. This overplays the independence movement that resulted from the war, but it does give the US a few more IPCs and doesn’t shift the game balance too much. British player will need to be a little stingier, but if the Ottomans are already on the run, this may not be the end of the world.
There are more options, but since I have to leave for class, I will leave it at this for now. I look forward to any comments or thoughts you may have. :)
