> we have created the richest country on the planet By which metrics? We are the poorest, sickest and most illiterate and most incarcerated of the industrialis

> we have created the richest country on the planet By which metrics? We are the poorest, sickest and most illiterate and most incarcerated of the industrialised nations, going by percentage of the population. Oh sure, we have more aircraft carriers, nuclear bombs and cars per capita but many people would consider our level of economic uncertainty, our treatment of our children and of our elderly to be emblematic of a poverty of the spirit. Your glib spouting of the received wisdom may have been somewhat true for much of the twentieth century; but perhaps it is time to reexamine the validity of that statement.