Battleangel

Perhaps not specific to the US but certainly written with US culture and history in mind.

Myth #1: The Broken Window

One of the most persistent is that of the broken window—one breaks and this is celebrated as a boon to the economy: the window manufacturer gets an order; the hardware store sells a window; a carpenter is hired to install it; money circulates; jobs are created; the GDP goes up. In truth, of course, the economy is no better off at all.

True, there is a sudden burst of activity, and some persons have surely gained, but only at the expense of the proprietor whose window was broken, or his insurance company; and if the latter, the other policyholders who will pay higher premiums to pay for
claims, especially if many have been broken.

The fallacy lies in a failure to grasp what has been foregone by repair and reconstruction—the labor and capital expended, having been lost to new production. This fallacy, seemingly so simple to explain and grasp, although requiring an intellectual effort of some mental abstraction to comprehend, seems to be ineradicable.

After the horrific destruction of the Twin Towers in September 2001, the media quoted academic and corporate economists assuring us that the government’s response to the attacks would help bring an end to the recession. What was never mentioned was that resources devoted to repair, security, and war-fighting are resources that cannot be devoted to creating consumer goods, building new infrastructure, or enhancing our civilization. We are worse off because of 9-11.

Scott Trask also goes on to elaborate on why the US economy has been and remains strong. Though it is difficult to say whether it’s stronger than any comparable country since there are no comparable country. Trask point to essentially two categories - geography and culture. Though it is a bit much to claim that “envy has no social standing here, unlike the Third World where it is perhaps the chief impediment to wealth-creation and development.” What drives the US from this perspective remains unclear though one can guess Trask is fishing for “protestant work ethics.”

Some of the points are largely circumstantial and one or more important categories are missing - like theft, myth, hegemony. Namely … Intellectual theft, which I couldn’t care less about, just like the US did for most of its early history. Perpetuating the myth of greatness, from the fields of gold that once attracted millions of immigrants to the American dream of today. And of course being dominant means one can dictate the rules, and put it on someone else’s tab, like with oil and the dollar being a global oil transaction currency and a de facto world reserve currency.