In the past week I have been reading Francis Fukuyama's The Origins of Political Order. I was struck by some of the features of the French Ancien Regime:
- The state was constantly at war.
- The rich were exempt from taxation.
- The constant wars and tax cuts for the rich resulted in an enormous debt.
- Innovation was focused on moving money, not investments that generated wealth.
- The elite were entirely self-absorbed in their own interests, regarding the common people with contempt.
- Elections were corrupted and eventually eliminated.
