The American Spectator

Risky Business : /p> p>I heartily second the points made in Ms. Fabrizio’s article and the supporting comments made by Elaine Kyle, Christopher Holland, and Ty Knoy. With all due respect to Mr. Knoy, however, I see his remarks, and raise him: He writes, “Thanks to two centuries of wealth creation by U. S. economy (fastest growth rate on the planet) welfare people on these shores today have higher standards of living than kings enjoyed 200 years ago.” That’s true, of course, but Western entrepreneurialism and industrial innovation have stood in sharp contrast to Third World indolence for well over two centuries. As early as 1776, Adam Smith described this phenomenon in some detail in The Wealth of Nations . With apologies for his rather-insensitive 18th century vernacular, I believe this passage summarizes the aforementioned sentiments perfectly: “…[I]t may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of a European prince does not always so much exceed that of an industrious and frugal peasant as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king, the absolute master of the lives and liberties of ten thousand naked savages.” br> — Mike Wohnhaas /p>