I et fritt samfunn vil velstanden stige for alle, dette fordi frihet innebærer at det ikke finnes noen statlige hindringer for produksjon og verdiskapning. Fravær av frihet er intet annet enn å legge begrensinger på de som driver verdiskapning, og å støtte de som i mindre grad driver verdiskapning.
Samfunn uten frihet vil derfor være fattige, mens samfunn som har hatt stor grad av frihet men hvor friheten gradvis blir redusert vil oppleve at velstanden synker.

Dette – at frihet gradvis reduseres - viser seg på mange måter: at arbeidsløsheten blant unge er større enn gjennomsnittet, at unge må ta jobber de egentlig ikke er utdannet for, at mange utdanner seg i fag det er lite behov for, at undervisningssystemet forfaller, at de unge kan mindre/er mindre godt utdannet enn sine foreldre, osv.

Vi kom over noen artikler (linket til nedenfor) som forteller at dette er utviklingen i dagens USA. Vi siterer:

“The headline unemployment number remains at 8.2 percent, … Given that the median period of unemployment is now in the range of five months, vast numbers who want to work are just not counted. If we include, as we should, people who have applied for a job in the last 12 months, and those employed part time who want full-time work, the real unemployment number is closer to 15 percent.

America is adding to the length of unemployment lines in the future by falling behind today in skill areas where global competition has become so intense. Too few of our younger people are benefiting from what is called STEM education. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the human capital at the core of any productive economy. … America has long been a STEM leader. We have dominated the world in innovation over two centuries but most recently in computer and wireless power, the development of the Internet, and cellphones, and with those innovations came well-paying jobs. But our leadership is at risk. …

[USA is] only one of three countries in the 34-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development where the youngsters are not better qualified than their fathers and mothers. Men and women ages 55 to 64 have the same or better education than the 25-to-34 generation. The younger workers in most other OECD countries are much better educated than those nearing retirement. …

In a 2010 report by the academies, an advisory group on science and technology, the United States ranked 27th among 29 wealthy countries in the proportion of college students with degrees in science and engineering. In a larger study conducted by the OECD in 2009, American 15-year-olds were 31st in math and 23rd in science. Yet another study found American 12th graders near the bottom of students from 20 nations, …

Large parts of our student population are coming out of school without a top-notch education in the hard sciences, just at the time when we need a well-trained, technically competent workforce to manage and staff the science and technology businesses that are the most rapidly growing businesses and the ones that yield the higher-paying jobs. …

Astonishingly, according to recent studies, about 30 percent of high school math students and 60 percent of those in the physical sciences are taught by instructors who either did not major in the subject or are not certified to teach it. How in the world can we expect our students to master science and technology when their teachers may not have mastered it?”

“ Over 43 percent of recent graduates now working, according to a recent report by the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, are at jobs that don’t require a college education.”

“More than half of high school seniors scored "below basic" in their knowledge of history, said the National Assessment of Education Progress in 2010. Half of Americans aged 18-24 in a National Geographic survey couldn't find New York state on a map. “

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance," said Derek Bok, president of Harvard University from 1971 to 1990.

… We spend, on average, $10, 615 per pupil in the public schools for monumental ignorance. That's almost 250 percent more, in real terms, than we spent in 1970, when students learned stuff.”

This isn't because teachers are underpaid. Their compensation is 150 percent more than for private sector workers with similar skills, according to a study last year by the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. On an hourly basis, teachers earn more than most accountants, architects and nurses.”

Dette var opplysninger om USA, og det ser ut til at mange land innen OECD ligger bedre an. Men hvor lenge vil det vare? Hvor lenge vil det være slik at USA er langt dårligere enn landene i Europa?

Vi kjenner alle problemene i Europa. Utviklingen i PIIGS-landene (Portugal, Italia, Irland, Hellas, Spania) er velkjente: stor gjeld, stor arbeidsløshet (i noen land 20 %, mens den er 50% blant unge), osv., og mange av de andre landene har samme type problemer, men de er ennå ikke så fremskredne som i PIIGS-landene.

Og også i Norge har vi tilsvarende problemer (dog ikke gjeld, tvert imot).

Grunnen til disse stadig økende problemene er fravær av frihet, og stadig mer støtte til flere og flere uproduktive tiltak, samtidig som de produktive blir pålesset stadig tyngre belastninger. Det kan ikke gå bra dersom kursen ikke endres.
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http://www.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2012/07/18/for-the-us-...

http://www.lifecourse.com/media/articles/lib/2012/07062012.html

http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/5078/130/