The Wealth of Man

Had an interesting conversation with a friend last night talking about economic conspiracies and the politics of war.

Fact #1
The US Government is in debt of over US$17 trillion! Now, tell me how many zeros is that?

Fact #2
The GIC has investments worth about US$100 billion all over the planet - that's just foreign reserves. Pretty big amount for a country the size of a little red dot on the map.

Fact #3
Nearly every Republican President in office after World War 2 has engaged in war. Think the Korean War (Eisenhower), Vietnam War (Nixon), Iran-Iraq, Afghanisatan-then USSR (Reagan), Gulf War (Bush 1), Afghanisatan War, Iraq War (Bush Jr).

Isn't it clear that it's all about the money? It is so interesting - the many stories of the rise and fall of whole economies and nations, the rise and frequent pauses of mankind as the only economic animal, as producer, consumer and accumulator of wealth. All the way from the time of the Vikings, the Roman Empire, the Crusades, discovery of the new worlds all the way to present day wars such as the Iraq War and not forgetting the minor wars fought all over South America and the continent of Africa.

Mankind, as one of the many species on planet Earth, has regarded himself as the master species. It has been an epic journey of triumph and inequity (hur hur hur...so what's equity?) and it is doubtless that the story of man's advancement is by no means a straightforward one of 'progress' (hur hur..and retain caveman mentality?)

So what were the defining moments? Why was progress so uneven? Have we finally inherited the earth? There is nothing more riveting than the evolution of society, man's battle for survival in competition with other species (goodbye to Darwin's Theory of Evolution) to subdue (can't think of any other word) every threat to survival - something that has us on the edges of our *ahem* intellectual seats.

Looks like evolution has not stopped! :P

Perhaps equally exciting is the struggle of mankind to satisfy the individual craving for material betterment, which we term wealth or welfare (how nice!). The events that have unfolded since time memorial have always been the same - man working, producing, accumulating, saving, investing, trading, owning and inventing. On a higher order of things (which often cause man to descend to the lower level), there is organising, regulating, governing, politicking, legislating, judging, moralising, ideologisng and theorising - all in the struggle to survive and succeed in doing so.

But from all that, I see a distinct pattern - a 3-step thing.

1. Economic advancement (or discovery) is made, perhaps by some fluke or by development in knowledge or technique. Suddenly, the farmer finds that he is able to feed more mouths and/or achieve better living standards.

2. This advancement invites threats from another who hopes to secure the fruits of the advance for himself without the costs or effort required to support the advance. (Sounds familiar? :p)

3. These threats invite (cordially or by hostile means) a social/political solution whereby the original advance is protected from predation by rules prohibiting or discouraging such conduct and/or direct policing and defence. (STOP STOP...where do I see this?? Refer to Fact #3 HMMM....)

Mankind has lived through, risen and fallen upon many a disaster but yet throughout the history of man, nothing has been more imperative than the survival of each economic interest. The wealth of nations depends nothing more than the resolute or perhaps, brutality of man's desire to want to be ahead of the pack.

What lies ahead, I cannot tell. The quest on the wealth of man and nations remains one of the most intriguing. Thousands of years have gone by in the history of mankind but it has not satisfied or quenched man's desire for betterment. The only way ahead is to, perhaps, continue on this ellusive quest. For as long as man carries the gene for survival as his forefathers did, 'tis a neverending story, an epic that will continue to unfold for generations to come.

Economic Tsunami :)

Acknowledgement: The above post is an inspiration from Peter Jay's book. Any reproduction of ideas are attributed to him - thank you, Mr Jay. Great book!