31 May 2009

It has been said that everything is politics (Montesque) and it has been said that everything in politics is economics (me).  But if that is so, most of personal politics/economics appears to be envy - thus envynomics.  Why do we "need" so much?  Why are we so competitive?  In a word, envy. 

I suggest that a good portion of the dislike most of the world has for the U.S. is also based on envy, if not envy of material, of power.  Not that we don't push it on people, but that's another story.  This is not a new story either, but I should like to propose one that I think is: for the rest of the world, be careful what you wish for, if you wish for the United States to fail.

Call it an application of the law of unintended consequences.  If we fail, they gain, right?  Another law, the law of zero sum.  I have often cited ignorance of our people, particularly our voters, and even of our congress creatures; but ignorance is universal, and the rest of the world has it in spades, particularly the world of less education.  If we fail they do not gain.

What is the biggest market in the world?  The United States - by far.  What if that market dries up?  Those who buy in it will experience discomfort, but what of those who sell into it?   And who are those that sell into the American Market?  Everyone.  It was once said that when America sneezes the world catches a cold; this time it will be far worse than a cold, and it is already in motion.

Does that mean no one else in the world produces anything?  On the contrary, they do, more and more, but the major market for what they produce is the United States, and they have come to take it for granted.  That is, we have even exported expectation - big time.  And when we whine not fair, they whine it louder, because if our not fair is inconvenience and hardship, theirs is desperation.  We lose jobs, but we have safety nets; they, in many cases, starve.

So they (so many) dream of our demise?  Go for it.  We might not like it but we really are in this all together, and killing the goose that lays the golden eggs (or buys them in this case) will have same unintended consequences that occurred in the nursery rhyme.  Remember that one?  If not it's in this blog archive, but even if you don't remember it, you know how it comes out.