Rules and Observations

Saw a couple of pieces which made me think of economic rules and some societal observations.  The economic rules are pretty rigorously straightforward and true.

Rule 1.  You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

Rule 2.  What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

Rule 3.  The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does does not first take from somebody else.  

Rule 4.  You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

Rule 5.  When half the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half are going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of communities and nations.

The societal observations are getting at these fundamental points:

Observation A.  Marxism and its variants have always failed spectacularly each time they have been tried. 

Observation B.  Genes and genetic heritability are real.  

Observation C.  Certain belief structures and religions drive higher fertility than others.  These are more likely to survive.  Success breeds success.

Observation D.  Certain belief structures and religions drive higher prosperity than others.  These are more likely to survive.  Nothing succeeds like success.

 

Observation E.  In-group favoritism is strong and universal.  Out-group favoritism is rare and self-erasing.

Observation F.  In-group favoritism is powered by in-group trust.

Observation G.  Higher levels of warranted trust is a productivity force multiplier.

 

Observation H.  In-group diversity is strengthening up to a fracture point at which time it becomes divisive and destructive.

Observation I.  Societal prosperity of a minimum level must be attained to afford the propagation of Marxo-socialist ideologies.

Observation J.  Having achieved that threshold prosperity, societies then begin to self-destruct due to the propagation of those Marxo-socialist ideologies.  

Observation K.  Marxo-socialist ideologies are most endemic to those parts of society most shielded from real competition.

Observation L.  Marxo-socialist ideologies are most dependent on the productivity of others to survive.  

A nation's decline begins when Rule 5 intersects with Observation H.