The Olympics despite some of the flaws people hold dear, is among the better ways of cultural exchange which seem to educate whole populations in a competitive arena without the hardware and sacrifice of ignorance that breeds war.

War that relatively few want, but many will fight is our sad history of the twentieth century.

I promised to dig this up for you... and here it is.

WHERE IS THE Wealth of NATIONS? - World Bank

The report is lengthy but insightful.  But, to sum it up, the nations of the western world economic models enjoy a great deal of 'intangible capital'.

"Intangible capital comprises 80 percent of the total wealth in high-income countries. It is close to zero, and often negative, in major oil exporters such as Nigeria, Algeria, and Venezuela."

So what is, 'intangible capital'? 

"By construction, the intangible capital variable captures all those assets that are unaccounted for in the estimates of produced and natural capital.

Intangible assets include the skills and know-how embodied in the labor force. The category also includes social capital, that is, the trust among people in a society and their ability to work together for a common purpose. The residual also accounts for all those governance elements that boost the productivity of labor. For example, if an economy has a very efficient judicial system, clear property rights, and an effective government, the effects will result in a higher total wealth and thus a higher intangible capital residual. The regression analysis in this chapter
shows that human capital and rule of law account for the majority of the variation in the residual. Investments in education, the functioning of the justice system, and policies aimed at attracting remittances are the most important means of increasing the intangible components of total wealth."

Thank you.

I believe that to be lip service, enabling the bank to cripple nations and extort their wealth, but I may not be reading it correctly. Don’t help us should be the mantra, no matter the disaster, because the conditions placed on the bank’s assistance is hobbling for the benefit of preferred members.