&gt; But yes, we&#x27;re mostly catching up, not leaping forward.<p>What concerns me is that we (or at least some folks) used to leap forward.  I&#x27;m struck by a comparison to the citizens of the Soviet sphere of influence: they were almost all materially much better off than they had been years before, but they weren&#x27;t as much better off as citizens of market states.  The Soviet system did, indeed, enable them to catch up and even surpass the Britain of 1914 or the America of 1917—but that didn&#x27;t seem as good a deal in 1987.<p>I wonder how much potential innovation and improvement has died in the cradle due to regulation, financial disincentives, cultural aversion &amp;c.  Sure: we&#x27;re better off now than we were a decade ago, but how much better off could we be?