[015a]

On the contrary; that's a component of my entire argument.

The US and the concept of a developed economy both started at Square 1 around the same time. That's a huge structural advantage. Developing or selling some new technology? No laws. Let's write one; with the input of the businesses doing the development. Other companies had to update their infrastructure over time; we green-fielded it. Much cheaper. Opening a factory? Take a thousand acres of land in the west, no one is using it, take it. Raw materials? An entire content worth of them, virtually untouched by the natives.

Those are all structural advantages which helped fuel the hyper-accelerated growth the US experienced throughout the past two centuries.

And the broader point is, every day that goes by everyone gets older; including the US itself. New businesses contend with more laws and regulations. Infrastructure was built without a plan for how to pay for its maintenance. The land is claimed, and the new owners want a million bucks for it.

That's the reversion to the global mean; that now, we're dealing with a lot of the same shit everyone else is and has been for centuries.