[gipper81]

Welcome to the zero sum game known as economic reality

Zero sum doesn't exist in the United States. There is absolutely no data support for this at all. This is economic-buzzword-phraseology from Lester Thurow (MIT) who wrote Zero-Sum Society and has been wrong about so much macroeconomics it is laughable. Zero sum talk is for protectionists who want to feel sorry for themselves.

[dennisw]

The more you talk, the more I like my zero sum theories. Deporting hi tech jobs to India only bolsters these theories.

[Leisler]

We should follow a mixture of Soviet Peoples economy and previous Indian rules requiring a licenses for any, and all, business transaction. In this way we can produce a "just" and equitable economy, not to mention fairness.

The old concept of the Venice/Dutch City states, old New England, English world trading, Japan and now China trading and doing business with the world...obviously a false road to prosperity. More rules, rigidity, slowness, increase cost of business.

[GOP_1900AD]

Naturally zero sum or any such linear models are a far cry from reality. No, reality is far worse. There are near singularities and dramatic sinks, with strongly nonlinear behavior. One thing nearly all economic theories neglect is the geopolitical dimension. They also do not account for nation states who, in order to achieve certain goals of conquest, would behave very irrationally from an economic perspective, perhaps including the actual destruction of their own wealth. Have you considered nonlinear system behavior and have you accounted for irrational behavior by other nation-states, particularly large anti Western ones?