Harkening
Values
...The theory was that great nations start out tough-minded and energetic. Toughness and energy lead to wealth and power. Wealth and power lead to affluence and luxury. Affluence and luxury lead to decadence, corruption and decline.
...Yet despite its amazing wealth, the United States has generally remained immune to this cycle. American living standards surpassed European living standards as early as 1740. But in the U.S., affluence did not lead to indulgence and decline.
That’s because despite the country’s notorious materialism, there has always been a countervailing stream of sound economic values. The early settlers believed in Calvinist restraint. The pioneers volunteered for brutal hardship during their treks out west. Waves of immigrant parents worked hard and practiced self-denial so their children could succeed. Government was limited and did not protect people from the consequences of their actions, thus enforcing discipline and restraint. ...
He’s got a point, there. But then....
A crusade for economic self-restraint would have to rearrange the current alliances and embrace policies like energy taxes ...
*sigh*
Very interesting theory!
I always love to read your Blog, very inspiring!
Greetings from
BerlinPosted by Sabrina Seitensprung on 09/29/09 at 08:00 AMThere are optimists and pessimists.
I expect the best out of people. I trust them.
.Posted by OregonGuy on 09/29/09 at 08:47 AM“Well, that seems to work really well - now let’s try somethng else.”
Posted by ZZMike on 09/29/09 at 11:36 AMSuper-size meals at restaurants, unknown to other generations… because when you ordered a steak at Delmonico’s, the regular size was about a pound of meat. (OTOH, if you could not afford such a restaurant you probably made do with just the potatoes cooked at home...)
Yes, we did so well because taxes were fairly low and government was fairly small. Now there is trouble. The obvious answer is to have more taxes and bigger government. While spending less tax money.
Amazing. But then, the way for governments to recover from not having enough money is for them to spend more. Funny that is not how any other entity, people or companies, is suposed to get more money…Posted by on 09/30/09 at 05:30 AM
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