Saturday, December 01, 2007

Shocking Economics

Redstate posted this video and I can't wait to share it with my kids.

This will go a long way towards balancing their social studies education with its endless stream of stories about how Europeans and Americans oppressed everyone.

As I think about it, I'm considering a post or three examining the correlation between oppression and economic success. After all, the Aztecs oppressed the living tar out of everyone around them and then got their butts kicked by a handful of diseased Spaniards. If exploiting others was the reason for the Europeans' success, why didn't it work for the Aztecs, the Azhanti or the Iroquois?

6 comments:

Kelly the little black dog said...

I've never seen it put this way. Shocking! ;)

You know a large part of the Aztecs downfall was that all their neighbors hated them, because they treated all non-Aztecs as cattle. The British used a softer touch - allowing their colonies the option to become them. And pitting one against another.

Anonymous said...

Not that I have anything against people expressing their opinions, even on youtube, but I am reminded of the quote made popular by Mark Twain, "There are lies, damned lies and statistics". In the interest of balance perhaps the CIA has the answer. I haven't added it all up but it appears, according to the US government, that the US also owes more than just about every other country combined.

Like my old Dad always used to say, "It's not how much you make, it's what you get to keep that matters."

K T Cat said...

the US also owes more than just about every other country combined

Amen, brother! As a big Dave Ramsey fan, I hate debt!

K T Cat said...

Aon, one more thing. Debt in a corporate sense is measured as a percentage of either gross or net income and is also weighed against past financial growth. Stated in those terms, the US isn't nearly so bad off.

Anonymous said...

Debt is best when it's retire, yes.

There are a lot of different ways of measuring debt, as my accountant tells me every now and then, that is certainly one of them. However, on topic, comparing China (pop 1,321,851,888 see CIA source above)and America (pop 301,139,947 ibid) and the current account table I quoted above it seems that the world owes every member of the Chinese population $189.05 approx. whereas using the same figures every person in the US owes $2,649.76 as of July last year. I don't think it's gotten any better since then. Having a big economy can sometimes mean you have even more to lose.

K T Cat said...

aon, I'm impressed that you know these things. How many of our presidential candidates mention this level of debt?

Since you're new to this blog, here's a previous post of mine on the subject.