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Sometimes I am grateful that our country is so large and prosperous that it can afford to have industries that exist like minor parasites on the government and
by kepler1 4y ago
Sometimes I am grateful that our country is so large and prosperous that it can afford to have industries that exist like minor parasites on the government and the people, sucking just enough for their sustenance off the inconvenience of everyone, and they put up enough of a fight that people accept it.
Because in some other country that wasn't so well off, these entities (and other countless other interests) might be enough to push the country over the edge into [outright inefficient | corruption | drag on economic growth] territory and people would be rightfully indignant at middlemen skimming off people's inconvenience to enrich themselves.
Maybe it's also the curse of having had such a long and stable history that enabled legacy interests and systems to arise, where eventually you need another country to show you what's possible when you start from scratch for you to realize that the way you're doing something is just stupid.
- somenameforme 4y agoI think this is more or less the exact tale of every single empire's rise and fall throughout history. Each emerging nation, and inevitably "empire", learns from the mistakes of those existing at the time and is able to make rapid progress as a result. But over time they begin to rest on their laurels, grow fat, and start falling into the exact traps that they previously fought against (often literally) and overcame, only to then eventually be overcome by the next great power. The big change in modern times is nuclear weapons. The passing the torch is rarely a pleasant affair. Add nuclear weapons paired alongside the poor/myopic leadership inevitably present in times of decline, and you end up in uncharted waters with a storm on the horizon.