The Downside of Being a Rich Country

What if America gets even richer? Have you thought about that? Everywhere you look people are talking about how things may get worse. But what if the opposite happens?

Artificial intelligence is already minting millionaires. Take Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of Nvidia, whose net worth didn't just grow—it exploded, ballooning from a mere $4 billion to an astronomical $100 billion. This meteoric rise wasn’t luck; it was the relentless hunger for Nvidia’s AI chips, which now control a staggering 80 percent of the data-center market. Those who had the foresight to invest in Nvidia stock? They didn’t just make money; they made a killing. The kind of returns that make you feel invincible, like you’re mainlining success in a world that’s hungry for the next big thing.

NVIDIA got wealthy first selling shovels to companies digging for gold. But that gold may be coming very soon and send incomes skyrocketing.

But this is just the beginning. Smart money is pouring into AI—billions upon billions of dollars. The big brains behind these investments argue that AI won’t just create a handful of tech billionaires like social media, smartphones, and personal computers did a quarter-century ago. No, they’re predicting something far grander: AI driving economic growth on a scale we've never seen, pushing American society into uncharted wealth. Some people see this as just the tip of the iceberg.

Even Elon Musk is predicting humanoid robots programmed with AI will be able to do anything.

All of these companies are headquartered in America. America will be the recipient of the economic windfall from the AI boom.

Maybe they are right. Maybe they are wrong. 

Living in a Rich Nation

There is a famous scene in the Wolf of Wall Street where DiCaprio’s character says “there is no nobility in poverty”.

I think when it comes to America, he’s right. America is a place where money matters a lot. You don’t want to fall down the economic classes in America because things go from first world to dangerous third world very, very fast.

However, we have to be careful of chasing wealth because it could sidetrack us from what really is the good life. Wealth should help assist us in that goal, but it isn’t an end to itself.

This is a delicate balance America has to confront if it becomes even richer in the future.

In This Newsletter

1) Seven Downsides of Being a Wealthy Nation: It’s better to be in a wealthy nation than a poor one. But there are some trade-offs. Let’s examine how money changes a country:

• The People Become Boring

• Services Get Very Expensive

• We Can’t Build Grand Projects Anymore

• We Become Too Technologically Obsessed

• Cities Will Become Unaffordable

• You Won’t Be Able to Retire in America

• A Money Over Leisure Society

Seven Downsides of Being a Wealthy Nation

1) The People Become Boring 

In America, the economy worked so well that everyone morphs into a career person, the incentives too alluring to resist. Land the right career, and you're on track to millionaire status by retirement. It doesn’t even have to be a super prestigious career. Any decent job will do. This isn’t happening anywhere else. Only in America can you snag a high salary, stack a 401K, and walk away wealthy from just a regular office job.

But there's a catch. You have to become a corporate drone. Predictable, agreeable, non-controversial, and stable—those are the rules. You need to stay employable, always appealing to potential employers. Over time, your behavior shifts. We’re already seeing it. Americans, especially the corporate middle class, are becoming less interesting. Less fun. It’s a trade-off: wealth for conformity. New York of the 1980s was poorer than today, but completely different. People from that time always point out how raw and wild it was compared to today.

2) Basic Services Are Very Expensive Because Wages Are High

One thing you realize when you travel to poorer countries is that the middle class has a lot of help at home. They have nannies, drivers, gardeners, cleaners, etc. Americans don’t really have that except for the super rich. Things like childcare in the US are very expensive. Parents have a huge burden without help. But even in places like Lebanon, a middle class couple has nannies.

@akwaugofarms

Rosie the Kenyan woman who went to do Nanny job in Lebanon #akwaugofarms #fypシ゚viral

Unfortunately, Childcare is a category that technology cannot fix. You’re not going to let a robot raise your kid.

That’s what happens in a rich society. Wages are high for services. So, tradesmen can make good money. The result? You pay through the nose for anything that needs a human touch. You don’t feel very rich because all the services are expensive.

3. We Can’t Build Grand Projects Anymore. 

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