Since Free Traders believe that America should lower its standard of living to help the third world

[Spider Jerusalem]

95. Here's an uncomfortable question for you

why should Americans, who constitute 5% of the global population, continue to consume 25% of global energy and nearly 30% of total resources? Why should millions of people in India and Africa and China and South America live without running water and electricity on the equivalent of about US$1 a day just because Americans are greedy and lazy and selfish and have lifestyles predicated on driving everywhere, even if it's just a half a mile away; on wasteful consumption of disposable consumer goods; on a degree of comfort that's quite literally unimaginable to most of the world...really, you know, it's quite inevitable that a rising standard of living in other countries will lead to a declining standard of living in the US, because those other countries are competing on the global market for the same resources the US is (let's not forget that the US imports most of its oil and quite a significant amount of other raw materials and finished goods). And all of this really avoids the basic problem which is that the vaunted American way of life was never sustainable; the whole thing was predicated on cheap oil, and with increasing market competition and production having apparently peaked, that's a thing of the past.