ElM, the British Disease was full blown when North Sea oil came on stream. Maggie Thatcher trimmed the extravagance somewhat, but the public wouldn't accept living within their means, So like the extreme case of Nauru, they lived the high life for a while on their windfall gains and now have to go back to earning a living.
Except that with 50 million people expecting various levels of state handouts, there wasn't much to go around anyway. $500 bn for 50 million people is only $10,000 each.
Over 30 years, that's only $300 a year. Spendthrifts need more than that to feel that they are having a good time.
Found wealth has never been as reliable as created wealth. That's why humans have big brains and chimps depend still on found wealth for their livelihood.
Compare chimps with humans and you'll see the advantages of created wealth over found wealth.
Pole climbers don't find wealth up in the air. They create it out of nothing, just the aether. A chimp would think climbing the pole would be fun, but they'd think you are mad, because they'd see that there are no bananas at the top. No succulent shoots, not good nesting spots, not leaves to keep the rain off.
You have got the best of both worlds = the chimpoid enjoyment of climbing trees, which is the natural state of humans, and enjoying the fruits of created wealth instead of found wealth. Humans are not designed to sit around in cubicles peering into screens, drinking coffee and eating sugar, flour, fat, flavour and colouring.
Found wealth disease is as bad as entitlement disease; descendants of the wealthy and the successful empires suffer that. Successful empires are found wealth too because the new tenants don't understand how the success was created in the first place and think it is because they are wonderful people simply by being born.
Mqurice |
