Ahh.. yes. That's explains the laws recently enacted by our government to facilitate the wholesale looting by our financial elites. Nice "foundation theory." What was the legal evolution of the TARP bill? The repeal of Glass Steagall? How about the medicare prescription plan bill that prohibits the government from negotiating rates with Big Pharma - what is that law's "foundation?"
The rule of law and the foundation set by or moral codes allowed capital to accumulate. When people have a an expectation their contracts will be honored they make long term plans. --- The moral foundation is being systematically stripped from our public and private institutions - hence the U.S. is slipping... fast. Now we are seeing the rule of law and the sanctity of contract being destroyed buy our politicians. Our markets are being rigged by crooks at the fed. Our courts are not supposed to incorporate the moral code which laid the foundation of our laws. What do you think is going to happen to us. And the funny thing is the will be a bunch of liberal idiots trying to tell us this is all good.
Yes.. The Ottoman Empire was said to have Law and Order but never in the same place and time. You can look at the three branches of humanity in Genesis after the Flood. It says "Japtheth will prosper".. That's the Indo-Europeans, they have 401k's, cars, roads, banks, etc... Hamites are Africans and Orientals, they pretty much have dirt floors... Shemites are in the middle east and via the conquest of Spain are in South America and Central America mixed with Indians who are Hamites... again, lots of dirt floors...
Wow, you rely on the bible and your miniscule moment in history to make that statement? LOL... Ancient Egypt, Mayas, Aztecs, Bablyon, Persepolis, Antioch... all these can range from 4000 BC to the fall of Rome. And you know what? Most of Western Europe was in the dark ages most of that time. So much for your bible - 401K theory. Yeah, God is behind the 401K... LOL Western Europe and North America have only experienced current wealth for about the last 400-500 years. And even then, experienced Wars and Famine and yes, dirt floors. And guess what - the wealth is now going back east. Ebb and flow. But I have the feeling you prefer ignorance based on mythology.
Only temporary. Eventually, your standard of living will be about the same as those in emerging countries. Not quite dirt floors and not quite marble, but somewhere in between.
outstanding questions... yeah,, what happened here in the last 8 yrs was just that! wholesale looting by those elites, educated at the best of schools, living in gated communities, having nothing but servants and wealth and never a sad day of unemployment or otherwise... and yet look at what all that priviledge has produced.....
That same question has been asked for millenia by different people, at different times, in different parts of the world. And one thing all those people had in common? Their view that the rest of the world was barbarian. Kinda funny, if you ask me. But right now, due to the marriage of technology and hydrocarbon use, the world is very different than it ever was. Modern amenities are sprouting up everywhere. Wealth may be transferred, but living standards are increasing everywhere for the most part. But if you stop and think about the fact that nothing can grow steadily forever, that anything that grows steadily - population, resource use, and economies - that things double when they grow at a certain rate. For instance, a population, or resource use, or an economy that grows just 2% a year doubles every 35 years. How many times can something double? If you chart that kind of growth - it eventually goes parabolic. Nothing can maintain a parabloic growth rate forever. Especially on a finite planet. Expect some major changes the next 50 years. We reached a point of acceleration of consumption growth that will end badly for most on this planet. My guess this century.
I agree on most of your analysis and other coments made in this topic on why the western world is on a slippery slope. I just find it intriguing why people can name a thousand reasons why things are bad but they can barely name one reason why it is even worse elsewhere. I take it the foundation providing the western world a higher standard of living these past decades has elements of politics, social progress, luck, geographical advantages and resource richness among many others to it but I would like to gain insights on those elements and which ones have been the most responsible for the relative advantage compared to many other places around the world. Hence the topic.