How to Make a Country Rich

In Richland, despite psychologists speaking of the benefits of parents spending time with small children, most children are raised by low-wage staff from other countries while their parents work, and this lack of secure attachment makes children grow up anxious, eager to please, and desperate to attain security through work.

“Though many of Richland's psychologist speak of the benefit of parents spending time with their small children, most children are brought up by staff from low-wage countries while their parents go to work. This lack of secure attachment does wonders for the children in turn: they grow up anxious, eager to please and desperate to attain security through work.”

Friendships in Richland are instrumentally linked to work and involve covert status rivalries, such that falling behind in career achievement leads friends to abandon one, forcing individuals to invest enormous effort in career success not primarily for money but to maintain a functioning social identity and ensure people will be nice to them.

“In Richland, friendships are usually linked to work and involve covert status rivalries. If you fall behind, your friends might drop you. You have to invest an enormous amount of effort in your career, not merely to make money, but so that you can have a functioning social identity; so that people will be nice to you.”

In Richland, all economic and social structures are geared toward the needs of the consumer (low prices, excellent customer service, 24-hour shop opening), which requires elimination of sacred high holidays and weekends, yet citizens are taught to think of themselves primarily as consumers rather than producers, allowing them to disassociate their multiple woes as producers from their expectations as consumers.

“In Richland, everything is geared towards the needs of the consumer: there must be low prices, that has to be excellent customer service, shops have to be open at all hours. There can be no sacrosanct high holidays or weekends. Even though most people are both consumers and producers, in Richland, they are taught to think of themselves primarily as consumers. In their minds, their multiple woes as producers are carefully disassociated from the scale of their expectations as consumers.”

In a wealth-maximizing society like Richland, professional identity and work status become the primary determinant of social worth and inclusion, such that what is on one's business card 'is simply who you are,' and other dimensions of identity (childhood experiences, inner thoughts, family background) are rendered irrelevant to social acceptance.

“In Richland, at parties, the first thing people want to know is: what do you do? According to how you answer, people are either delighted to see you, or swiftly abandon you by the peanuts. In Richland, what's on your business card is simply who you are. All the other stuff (what you were like as a child, what you think of late at night, who your parents are) don't really matter.”

Richland is perceived as a very 'fair' place where hard work and cleverness lead to success with no nepotism or insider trading, creating a level playing field that is philosophically nice for winners but deeply punitive for those left behind, who are termed 'losers' and held personally responsible for their shortcomings in a culture hostile to luck, where individual agency is absolute and suicide rates are very high.

“Richland is seen as a very 'fair' place. If you work hard and a clever, you'll get there. There's no nepotism or inside a trading. The playing field is level. That's a lovely philosophy for the winners, but more punitive for those who get left behind. They are termed 'losers', and a judge personally responsible for their own shortcomings. It's a culture that's very hostile to the idea of luck. You're the author of your own fate. If things go wrong, don't blame anyone else. Has a very high suicide rate in Richland.”

In Richland, parents condition love and lovability on educational achievement, especially in mathematics and science, teaching children from an early age that affection and self-worth are contingent on successful performance rather than intrinsic to their existence.

“In Richland, parents place a tremendous emphasis on educational achievements. Children come away feeling not just that it's nice to do well in exams, but they are more lovable human beings, more worthy of existence, if they triumph at school, especially in maths and science. You therefore learn early on that love comes from successful performance: the more you achieve, the kinder people will be to you.”

In Richland, people take very few holidays and practice self-denial, being suspicious of indulgence and fearful of what might happen if they remain absent from the office too long, yet simultaneously they spend substantial money on high-status consumption like expensive cars that exceed legal speed limits and frequent expensive holidays, while low-cost activities like walking or poetry are viewed as eccentric.

“In Richland, people don't take many holidays. Generally they're very self-denying and scared about what might happen if they don't remain in the office long enough. They get up early, are suspicious of any kind of indulgence, and have sandwiches at their desks for lunch. On the other hand they're very interested in paying a lot for what they call 'fun'. They pay a significant premium to have a car that can go at twice the legal speed limit and flying far away on holiday many times a year. Activities that don't cost much (like going for long walks around the local neighborhood, or writing poetry) are seen as an impressive slightly eccentric things.”

In Richland, 24-hour catastrophic news media (on websites, phones, and channels) teaches citizens that the world is incredibly unsafe and that terror, accident, and cruelty await at every turn, with utter silence about anything positive, leaving people to believe that the only way to protect oneself is through accumulation of ever-larger sums of money.

“There is 'news' everywhere in Richland: on websites, phones, and 24-hour channels... and it's always catastrophic. Citizens thereby learn that the world is incredibly unsafe, and that terror, accident and cruelty await at every turn. There is utter silence about anything positive. Every encounter with the media leaves one suspecting that the only way to protect oneself is through the accumulation of ever larger sums of money.”

By middle age, most people in Richland have, by definition, failed to measure up to the exalted aspirational hopes placed on them in childhood, yet they keep their regrets hidden and quietly medicate with tranquilizers and antidepressants.

“But by middle-aged, most people in Richland have by definition fail to measure up to the exalted hopes once placed in them. They keep their regrets hidden, however, and quietly prescribed tranquilizers and antidepressants.”

People in Richland do not sleep well, often waking at 4 am with career-related worries, because market capitalism in Richland is very 'efficient,' meaning constant innovation and ruthless competition in which weaker players are driven out of business swiftly and without mercy, and the stock market punishes underperformance on a quarterly basis.

“People don't sleep very well in Richland. They're often up at 4 am. That worries all relate to their careers. That's because market capitalism in Richland is very 'efficient'. Efficiency means constant innovation and rivalry: the weaker players in any field are always driven out of business swiftly and without mercy. The stock market is ruthless about punishing underperformance (normally on a quarterly basis).”

Though every society has famous people, Richland is selective about whom it reveres: it does not revere contemplative monks, wise sages, or philosophers, but instead monopolizes glamour for wealth creators (especially in films), whose doings are constantly reported so that ordinary people's lives seem squalid and awful by comparison, motivating them to work much harder to improve their apparent misery.

“Every society has famous people in it, but Richland is very selective about it heroes: it doesn't revere contemplative monks, wise sages or philosophers. Glamour is monopolised by wealth creators, especially ones in films. Their doings are constantly reported on so that the lives of most ordinary people seem really squalid and awful by comparison. News of the famous means that people try much, much harder to work and improve their apparently miserable lot.”

Richland has very bad weather, combining the worst of England and the Netherlands—brief, mild, unreliable summers with only about seven cloudless days reaching into the 20s Celsius, followed by long dark winters with gusty, icy winds and low heavy cloud—which delivers a constant psychological reminder that delight is not freely provided by nature and that only unrelenting human industry can provide salvation.

“Richland has very bad weather. It combines the worst of England and the Netherlands: brief, mild, unreliable summers with only around seven countless days in it and with a temperature rarely getting into the 20s. Then come long endless dark winters with gusty, icy winds and low heavy cloud. As a result, the natural world delivers a constant reminder that delight is never freely and bountifully provided by nature; good things don't grow on trees, only unremitting human industry can provide salvation.”

Citizens of Richland can be envied for their material wealth and superior shopping malls and restaurants, but they must also be pitied for their 4 am anxieties, relentless doubts about their careers, and worries that no one can really like them outside of what they've managed to achieve in the current quarter.

“The citizens of Richland can certainly be envied for their wealth: their shopping malls are extraordinary and their restaurants truly superlative. But they do also have to be a little pitied for some of their 4 am anxieties; for their relentless doubts about their careers and for the worry that no one can really like them outside of what they've managed to achieve this quarter.”

Politics, at its core, revolves around the question of what you need to do to make a country richer.

“Most of what we call 'politics' really revolves around the question of what you need to do to make a country richer.”

In Richland, there is no religion that promotes spiritual goods and sees kindness or wisdom as superior to wealth or power; people are generally secular and mock the religious, and insofar as people do believe, the God they believe in is materialistic—a figure who rewards moral goodness with money.

“In Richland, there's no religion that energetically promote spiritual goods and sees kindness or wisdom a superior to wealth or power. In general, people are secular and mock the religious. But in so far as some people do believe, the God they believe in is remarkably materialistic: it's a chap in the sky who believes in rewarding those who are good with dollops of money.”