Ron / Doug -
I am VERY distressed.... "Shrinking" free world? That is just about
the most infuriating thing I have yet heard from any American in
recent years, and on the cusp of Memorial day no less. Here are some
facts for you:
By 1962, only approximately 45% of the countries in the world lived in
a form of liberal democracy (with many of them under socialist
governments), the rest of the world lived in some form of dictatorship
with the majority of that brutal Communist Stalinist/Maoist states.
Approximately 70% of the world's population lived under some form of
socialist dictatorship.
By 1997, over 65% of the world (and currently lives) under some form
of democratic system, with the last remaining major communist nations
hell bent on becoming some form of a western-style capitalist country,
with the unspoken objective of eventual democratization (yes, that is
China & Vietnam's unspoken goals). The only true Stalinist nations
left in the world today are North Korea and Cuba.
Americans have to start getting past the notion that they are the last
great democracy in the world for one very good reason - my fellow
Americans have to wake up and realize that the millions of American
men and women who fought the Fascists & Communists (like my father) -
WELL DAMN IT THEY WON THE COLD WAR, and the world is much better
because of this.
So, in the world of "be careful what you wish for," now that we won
the cold war it means now that the rest of the world:
1) has lower taxes than the US (the US has the highest corporate
taxes and highest income taxes in the OECD now, even France is lower)
2) is more democratic than the US (most of the world's liberal
democracies have more than two political parties)
3) is more competitive than the US (when was the last time you bought
a US made television?)
4) Some of these nations now can respond FAR better to natural
disasters than the US. (Katrina????)
So, my friend, the "alternatives" you talk about have lower taxes,
more liberty and don't have a trade deficit with China. So the
problem isn't the rest of the world, Americans need to start figuring
out how to be competitive in the world. And you are right, according
to economic measures the US is the most productive in the world, but
that doesn't mean it's the smartest or most competitive, except maybe
in software and the internet, and even the Indians are hell bent on
changing that paradigm.
- end of part 1 -
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