I never commented on the variables of US economic history, actually. I will say that for a long time, the UK was much wealthier than the US, and provided the capital for the railroads and the telegraph and some of those ranches, and that Japan and the Tigers, without many resources, beat a lot of other countries with more resources (e.g. India, Indonesia, Malaysia) until the effects of corruption caught up with them.
The metric of goodness? Well, for the most part we leave people to their private decisions. The economic equivalent of democracy is consumer sovereignty, where the amassed economic transactions of a free people determine the allocation of resources. We don't tell them they would be better off eating brie, listening to Mozart, and living a life of modest elegance, although that may be true. We let them listen to Garth Brooks, eat Velveeta, and live in ostentatious houses with baroque decoration if they care to, and can afford it.
I am indifferent to income profiles, and think the market should decide. If the market flattens the range, that is fine. If it steepens it, ok. I only care that the standard of living is improving for the mass of people, not how they are compared to the Jones's....... |
