Greed and graft design an unsustainable economic architecture in socialist countries.
When Egyptologist Zahi Hawass recently uncovered a 3,000-year-old “lost city” on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor, he discovered serpentine walls. When Thomas Jefferson designed the University of Virginia, he included serpentine brick walls.
Snaking brick walls use more bricks than straight walls, but they have an aesthetic appeal. I don’t know why either the ancient Egyptians or Jefferson opted for wavelike over straight. I do know the walls make people feel good; and when people feel good, they often ignore costs. “More bricks! So what? Makes us feel great.”
Have you noticed what socialist governments do to gain control of their countries’ hearts rather than their minds? Obfuscate and hide the purpose of their economic legislation. Want to see a serpentine wall made from gold bricks in the making? Look at the current spending legislation of the U.S. Congress.
Once built, such gold brick walls last. Jefferson’s walls are over 200 years old. The pharaonic city’s walls are over 3,000. Once a brick becomes part of a wall, it isn’t used again. Once the money is spent on “feel good” projects, it’s cemented into permanence. Once a people yield to runaway spending whose purpose is to buy their loyalty, the country’s economy becomes as rigidly fixed as a brick wall that slowly crumbles over generations. When future Zahi Hawasses dig up twenty-first century economic history, they will ask whether or not there was a connection between the number of bricks a civilization used and the decline of that civilization.
I challenge you to count the number of extra economic bricks the US Congress is cementing into its serpentine spending legislation.
Notes:
Magdy, Samy. Famed Egyptian archaeologist reveals details of ancient city. Phys.org. 11 April 2021. Online at https://phys.org/news/2021-04-famed-egyptian-archaeologist-reveals-ancient.html Accessed on April 11, 2021.
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