I recently subscribed to professor of economics at Harvard University's, Greg Mankiw, blog at http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com... and he linked to a presentation available at http://shockingeconomics.com/. The presentation lists the comparisons of oil-rich countries' economies to that of the United States and offers an argument that America's devotion to freedom has caused it to be an economic powerhouse. Because of TuscanyCircle's (TC) focus on the concepts of freedom and how it is currently eroding, this should be of interest.