The Top 40

Indeed. The re-election of the Incomp-ident guaranteed four more years of stagnation, at the very least.

I have been to Pacific islands where there were people with optimism and confidence, but they were unable to create money. Why? Money (wealth) is created from using natural resources to improve people's standards of living. The greatest of all those resources has been fossil fuels that provide energy to power all kinds of labor saving devices.

On Fanning Island (Part of the Gilbert Islands) the people live a life of splendid isolation and hard work. They have no fossil fuels to produce energy. They cannot produce enough coconuts and fish to sell to others to buy energy. It is a lesson in basic economics to understand why fossil fuel energy is basic to creating wealth that improves our standards of living.

Yes, Iran. Iraq, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela and others have fossil fuels in abundance but have not been able to create wealth for their citizens. That's because the other wealth creating necessity is missing - private property rights protected by rule of law and courts along with a reasonably honest representative government.

To rev up our wealth creation what we need is a less corrupt, overregulating government. The Presidential candidate who can provide that is what we are looking for. Maybe Trump's the one.

I think you have that a little out of order.
Fossil fuels have been around all along, yet wealth for all didn't start happening until the enlightenment which acknowledged property rights.

What good would it be to have an oil well next to your crib if the monarchy just stole the proceeds and gave you crumbs.

But when you became owner of your property and the oil well you also became wealthy.

Owning property and wealth allowed one the option to act upon ideas, and inventions occurred, which created even more wealth and the ability to purchase more property, etc., etc.

When you realize the fact that at every step, from aquiring the raw materials up through all of the stages of manufacturing and distribution and sales, the gov't in one form or another levy's taxes, you can grasp the enormous amount of theft that is going on this country.

Retailers typically have about an 8% profit margin and that means if you buy an item for $10 about $9.20 of it goes to someone other than the store owners, and if this can be said of every other entity in the supply line, then who is getting the most money?

The thief of course.

You cannot build a lasting and successful business based in criminality.

Nor can you claim to have property rights when your property is stolen from you.

When the stealing stops success will start.

Will a collapse have to happen before the gov't stops stealing?

Hide and watch.