Success Is a Trap
Rather than glory in success, we are better served by being extremely wary of success.
If success is a trap, isn’t that where we all want to be, trapped in success? Maybe not. In response to my recent essay for subscribers, China Adrift: Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent, several readers asked why China couldn’t just continue its astounding boost phase of growth without pause.
The short answer is success is a trap: the policies that generated the amazing growth of the boost phase are naturally viewed as the keys to everyone’s dream, permanent high growth. But those policies only worked like magic in a particular set of circumstances in a particular moment of history, and while no one is noticing, the great success changes the circumstances and the moment in history passes.
As a result of the great success of the policies, circumstances change such that the policies no longer work. It’s ironic, isn’t it? The policies that optimized the harvest of the all the low-hanging fruit generated rapid, s
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.