[ExI] are all cultures equivalent?

[Damien Broderick]

At 03:46 PM 4/13/2009 +1000, Stathis Papaioannou wrote:

> >Economic freedom creates wealth.

>And, in the final analysis, the efficient and productive systems 
>shall prevail over the less efficient, less productive. So what 
>would you say if in a few decades the wealthiest, most powerful 
>nations are not following a pure free market economic program?

Why, surely that *no* nation in these terrible decades has followed 
such a program. Also, it couldn't happen. It just couldn't.

Actually, I'm more concerned about an orthogonal issue. Let's assume 
that unconstrained market freedom does indeed maximize wealth 
especially if it doesn't pay any attention to externalities, as was 
the case (I gather) in its heyday. But does that tide of wealth 
really lift all boats, or is the extra wealth channeled into few and 
fewer hands (as has happened, I gather, in the last decade or more in 
the US)? Is an aristocracy of immense wealth really the US ideal? 
Used not to be, I hear.

Damien Broderick