I've been thinking for awhile that our society is starting to bear a disturbing resemblance to Rome in its last days. Decadence, laziness, a general sense of entitlement. These all appear to be hallmarks of the decline of a culture's prominence in the world. Certainly we're seeing the Asian cultures' stars rising.
What I hadn't done was combine this with something else I've been wondering. Everyone says we've become a service based economy. What I've wondered is how does a service based economy generate wealth...i.e., sustain economic growth? Somebody, somewhere has to create new things, otherwise there is no one to pay for those services.
Well, this morning on NPR they were interviewing the author of "Bad Money", Kevin Phillips (link here). His premise is very similar to mine but taken from the second angle. Namely, that we're watching the decline of our culture/civilization/country's prominence in the world because we're we've allowed our role in the world to shift from industry to providing services to the world.
I found myself nodding a lot so he must know what he's talking about:-). Which leads to my next blog post...pithy thought of moment.
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