Originally Posted by
woodland
I agree with you frisson.
Although having taken such a massive pieces of land (in Australia and North America), along with the slave trade and centuries of abuse in colonial outposts in India, Africa and Asia has really given Wastern nations a substantial leg up over any other power.
Had the West acted the way the say they have acted - via rule of law, free speech, free trade and non aggression -purely through good governance and work ethic this advantage would be a lot smaller.
Say there's two families A and B - both similar levels of assets.
Father A raids and the house of B and takes most of the wealth.
This wealth is then invested wisely in investments and education. Son A goes to elite an school and graduates top of his class at Oxford. Son A donates to charitable causes.
Father B drinks to his demise after most of his wealth is taken.
Son B struggles to make ends meet - uneducated and unemployed.
We, as a culture, tend to focus a lot more on the success of Son A, attributing the success of Family A on the son's work ethic and education etc.
Rather, methinks most of the success is driven by the dirty work of Father A.
Just here to give a different point of view.
Once a country slides into poverty its very hard to overcome it. Just look at Argentina.
The way China managed to bootstrap itself out of poverty without violence is very respectable. Few other countries have managed. Taiwan of course being another.
how time over budget?
