@frostwolf Remember a lot of American prosperity was during the 40s-70s. Other countries really got hit by WWII and needed to restructure, and our prosperity wasn't even and kinda rooted in our own societal problems -- if you've ever seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit, some of the plot actually *did* happen in LA, where people who'd make more money off cars really sabotaged the extensive streetcar system. And then basically any grounding for prosperity went away. Stuff really built on itself.