All wealth starts with natural resources —to which labor is added. Choke off access to natural resources and you destroy the fount of wealth. Newt, Gore and the others thought we could harvest other country’s natural resources and become a service or information economy. Service economies are secondary and only circulate wealth around. The information economy quickly went to India.
This nation has an abundance of natural wealth that is set aside, locked up and rendered too expensive to access, Environmental policies, a burdensome and expensive bureaucracy and over-regulation have destroyed rural economies and has put the source of wealth out of reach. Soon the know-how for developing natural resources will fade with the older generation. Our economy is tarngled in its own red tape and concern about preserving things for future generations while this one founders.
Old Asian saying - “When hit by an arrow, you first must pull it out, stop bleeding before you go for help, otherwise you will die”. Environmentalists are too busy trying to save us from a disaster they think may happen in the future, but starve the current society to death.