Eye-widening, eyebrow raising observations, backed by plenty of charts and diagrams, on why Japan's per capita income was able to double in 33 years (1880+); Indonesia's in 17 years (1965+); South Korea's in 11 years (1970+); China's in only 10 years (1978+). These figures are put into perspective with the United States' per capita income doubling 50 years after 1840 and Britain's in 60 years after 1780 (the world's then fastest-growing economy).

Kind of makes one wonder why we're encouraging our American citizens to live off credit-card debt and expect all sorts of entitlements instead of encouraging saving, while at the same time dragging our feet on reducing our national debt and supporting open world trade, and ignoring the economic destruction wreaked by the disintegration of families and the education of our young. This book is not for the complacent.