I know what you're saying...BUT...I've been to some "poor" South American countries (as I'm sure you have too), and I partied with some RICH people that lived there.
I'm 100% positive that if you and I were born and raised in a poor third world country, and didn't get killed when we were crazy teenagers...
We WOULD rise up to the top there as well and end up being the guys with the most pigs and goats in the village and have the hottest native women in our shacks.
The U.S. is a land of great opportunity. But I really don't feel that the government bureaucracy had very much to do with it. I think it had more to do with people like the Founding Fathers and later on people who led the expansion west and SEIZED opportunity in spite of the govt. (think Kennedy, Vanderbilt, Flagler, Rockafeller, etc.)
Hell, I'm living here in Vegas. It's a perfect example of the govt. fucking up something.
The mob built this town up and made it great.
Now? The govt. here makes it impossible for a small brick and mortar biz to get started. Only mega-corps can even think about it. And the govt. dips their hand in and regulates everything so harshly that it's definitely not "Sin City" anymore.
It's a town living off the past rep that it once had back in the 1940s through the 1970's. And every day it gets a little bit lamer and lamer (can bureaucrats EVER stop making new laws?) . People can only come here so many times looking for wild fun times...and instead get ass raped at every turn by the big companies running these casinos with their overpriced everything (remember when Vegas was the place you could come to for almost nothing?).
Count me as one of the "crazy" people who believe that "yes" we do need some govt. oversight to make sure that things are "right"....but I think that they have WAAAAAYYYY overreached (like they always do) and are stifling people from getting ahead in life.
As I said...I pity the poor fool who tries to start a small brick and mortar business these days. And then...if a miracle happens and he hits the big time?
Well...they want to tax him MORE for doing a good job.
