America, like Brazil, China, India and Russia are all blessed with abundant natural resources, but America has used it’s capital to build the infrastructure (which we will explore in future Diary’s) required to develop those resources more efficiently, creating enormous wealth for our society. Capitalism fosters economic growth because it allocates capital to it’s most efficient use. Has any other system in the history of mankind developed an economy better than capitalism? Individuals making free and self interested choices in the marketplace seems to work everywhere and every time its tried. Using infrastructure to develop and use a nations natural resources takes capital and since governments have no capital of their own, only the capital they tax from their citizenry, isn’t it best left to the freedom of the marketplace to develop an economy? Look at the mis-allocation of capital when Governments are involved in allocating capital either directly or through regulation, for example, “Green Energy” like windmills, solar, electric cars, or ethanol. Have you ever wondered why the United States has the largest manufacturing and consuming economy in the world AND why it will probably stay that way, for many years to come? Have you wondered if, or when, WHEN China, India or Brazil will overtake the U.S as the worlds largest economy? If so, you’ll have a very long wait.
First lets look at the worlds 15 largest economies in 2016, with over 1 trillion US$ of GDP, and how they rank according to the IMF.
The United States Manufacturing base is the largest in the world and American workers are the still the most PRODUCTIVE in the world by a large margin, and should remain so for a long time! Let’s keep these numbers in mind, and, in proper perspective, when we whine about losing all those jobs to offshore manufacturing, or look at anecdotes regarding products made in specific countries overseas that have little basis in facts, or private sector unions – which per the BLS were only 6.4% of the private workforce in 2016 – destroying our manufacturing base, or that ANY other country will overtake the US in manufacturing dollars per capita any time soon.
