Economics, a zero sum game?

I read this quote from Science Czar John Holdren last night. In case you aren't familiar with Holdren, he is one spooky dude. He's written in favor of forced abortions and sterilization (even going so far as putting sterilants in the drinking water). He's also in favor of global governance. Go look him up.

Anyway, he said:

"I think ultimately that the rate of growth of material consumption is going to have to come down, and there’s going to have to be a degree of redistribution of how much we consume, in terms of energy and material resources, in order to leave room for people who are poor to become more prosperous."

This triggered my thoughts to something I'd read recently in A Patriot's History of the United States.

In discussing the reasons Spain did not have more success colonizing the new world, especially when compared to the English, the authors wrote:

"Another factor that retarded Spain's success in the New World was its rigid adherence to mercantilism, an economic theory that had started to dominate Europe. Mercantilism held that wealth was fixed....and for one nation to get richer, another must get poorer."

And it hit me, these people (meaning the crazies in the Obama regime and beyond) think the world is a Zero Sum game. They fail to see that the American experiment in freedom, liberty and individual rights raised the standard of living of everyone in this country to levels above that in the rest of the world.

They think we got rich off the backs of poorer nations. If these poorer nations would adopt the same principles, they too could see the kind of prosperity America has had. There is a correlation between oppression and poverty. The more oppressed the citizens, the less secure property rights, the more tyrannical the government, the more poverty there is.

These Eco-greenie-global-governance people are subscribing to 16th century ideas!