@yogthos yea I want to improve the world while many Americans only want to cheat more people and get ahead by pushing others behind. Rentier economics was always the most efficient way to do that. There are powerful disincentives to do new and useful things in the US now. Norway is so much better in this respect because the government extensively supports capital investment to do new things rather than relying on private capital alone. People there are less cruel and selfish, too.

@yogthos of course this analysis for me also reflects on the fall of the western roman empire, which was perhaps at its wealthiest on paper soon before and even as it was collapsing and productivity was massively declining.