The real reason Asian countries are doing well is because so many people there willingly work for 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week (that's 80- 100 hours/week) for 50 weeks a year. That's what they have to do to get ahead- kind of like our grandparents coming out of the 1930's. Compare that to your current normal North American - 35 to 40 hours a week, (unless they want to be heroes and work 60) with 4-8 weeks off each year. That, in a nutshell, is their secret. Your complaints about mercantilism- that is just the way of the world in the age of multinational corporations- it is not a national phenomenon anymore- its corporate. Sorry to pop your bubble- but reality is what reality is.