Yes, that's a fact. France has a huge tax on earnings. They do have socialized health care, but they still pay more in taxes. Europeans pay about almost twice the amount we do for a gallon of gas. We can't really complain. :-)
paper money is near worthless, but not all paper money is totally devoid of backing in the world. However; it will be as you say eventually for the reasons youv'e stated.
In my opinion, it's not just the material objects that give value. One of the strongest values of America is in it's knowledge base. As long as the know how is there, the value of America cannot ever truely go away. Unfortunetly for a variety of reasons, that knowledge base is slowly but surely deterioration.
There were many societies throughout history who's knowledge base simply vanished for lack of interest, apathy, and other reasons.
Consider the current issues with welding. The art and craft of welding is slowly but surely going away because our youth have been trained to push a button for a living. The skilled craftsmen/craftswomen available today, are considerably less than what was 30 years ago, and nearly gone when compared to post ww2 era.
It is nearly to far gone to return. commercial ads, products, and media entertainment are primarily targeted to white collar work. Think about this as you watch the TV tonight. The icon of success is portrayed as a guy at the airport with a three piece business suit or a bunch of office types standing around a food bar or coffee machine. How many welders and craftspersons do you see running around in three piece business suits? A 6010 rod would make short work of tha suit, as well as crawling under, over, and around the pipe, tank, or structure they are welding up.
When a society forgets how to build itself, that society fades into obscurity, dies outright, or is taken over by a hostile hungry society. That is historical precedence carried out around the world for thousands of years.
These wall street types are slowly but surely killing the American society, and themselves by focusing on the what have you done for me lately mentality, rather than what have I done for you.
My opinion for what it's worth,
Gerald
yah I forgot to mention that non material goods the so called "intellectual property" ideas patents, knowledge and skills are probably worth more than raw assets, but much harder to measure. For example Japan a tiny island with few natural resources, has a highly trained and skilled workforce. Likewise america's strength lies in our research institutions and universities where many new products and concepts are developed.
I would disagree with welding going away, I'm part of the generation coming up I'm 21 right now and I got into welding when I was 17 through art classes. For the last 20 years or so guidance counselours and teachers pushed students away from trades and blue collar work, into academic degrees. Rightly so with the collapse of the value of unskilled factory work and the inability to compete with China to create low cost consumer goods. Now more than ever people are going to college and getting a degree or certificate which is a good thing overall. However neglecting the trades for the last 20 years means theres a dire shortage of skilled blue collar work such as welders, plumbers, electricians etc etc. I think given time and market forces people will realize that trades can be satisfying work with good pay, not everyone is suited for desk work and skilled blue collar work often offers higher wages than white collar work. I just had a bunch of my friends graduate from top colleges with high GPA's and honours, however currently the market is saturated with things like biology, antrhopology and other soft science degrees the only course for them is to continue to grad school which most are doing or getting jobs outside their field. Many schools are clueing into this and beginning to offer more "blue collar" trade programs and 4 year degrees, especially when welding engineering schools boast near 100% placement for graduates with salary among the top of engineering degrees. for years people have been convinced as you said that all trades are dirty work and that blue collar work involves sitting in a factory hitting a button until you get ruthlessly laid off with no where to go. What people don't realize is that the plumber that fixes their pipes is making 60-70 /hr top welders make over 100,000 and other blue collar trades are equally as profitable.
I think the trades in America will bounce back when people realize someone still has to build our infastructure, you can't outsource on site construction. Nursing is in the same dire straights, everyone wants to be a doctor...