Do Americans Have An Entitlement To A Constantly Increasing Standard Of Living Beyond The Rest Of The World?
Americans appear to have some unfortunate belief that by simply being Americans, they have an entitlement to a high and increasing standard of living. False. That may have appeared to be the situation for some decades, but they will be in for a really unpleasant surprise. An ever more global economy is a reality, and while the topic is somewhat overworked, it's true that Americans can not expect to be paid handsomely for similar work that Asians are willing to do at a cheaper wage. Neither can companies in India, China, etc., hope to have the ability to continue to pay those low wages forever. There probably will be some sort of a "meeting in the middle" over the coming years with Asian incomes rising and American wages falling. That's great news for Asians, but not so great for many Americans.

To a large degree, Americans are living off the heritage of our former small-government, free-market, capitalist economy which was the engine that supplied the growing standard of living Americans used to experience and modern day Americans appear to expect. I say former, because we have anything but that any longer. The central government attempts to regulate wealth creation even though producing no wealth whatsoever. Its major products are rules, failed programs, and aggressive foreign wars. None of these has a constructive impact on the wealth of this nation, and I believe the "military-industrial complex" that President Eisenhower warned us about may be the most detrimental factor of all. In any case, given his military experience he sure must have known all about it. War is horribly expensive, and as we have seen, once we start one the mindset becomes one of "we must have victory thus we have to spend whatsoever is necessary to achieve it." Seems like a route to national bankruptcy. Imagine what could have been accomplished with the money we've spent on these wars. And that does not even include the social costs to individuals and families.

The point is, downsizing on a family level is going to be the new thing to do, whether we like it or not. A continuously increasing standard of living comes from private savings and investment, productive labor, and a political environment established by a government that doesn't act like business growth will proceed regardless of what the government might choose to do to obstruct it. To the degree those things are missing, so also will increasing personal wealth be outside our grasp.

One does not have to like the laws of economics, and one can employ the services of individuals with flawed views to obtain the answers one would like, but the facts remain the same.

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