Forbes magazine counts 791 billionaires in the world. What are the conditions conducive to wealth creation? Freedom. By my count, about 85 percent of the 486 billionaires listed by Forbes reside in free countries, with the remaining 15 percent or so residing in Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, Kuwait, and other countries I don't regard as free (Who wants to create wealth if some strongman might take it away?). Where are the conditions most conducive to wealth creation? The United States of America. Forbes contends that almost half (371 to be exact) of the world's billionaires are Americans. Message to the rest of the world? Don't player hate. Imitate.

Uncle Sam might not be a "strongman," but he sure is pretty strong, don't you think? Plenty of us are paying him upwards of 50% of our wealth in the form of many taxes (federal, state, municipal, real estate, sales, personal property, inheritance, whenever we fly or stay in hotels or rent cars, and on and on). While citizens of some other countries might shell out at higher rates, that's no justification for what goes on here.

Our conditions for wealth creation, while comparatively more favorable than those in other non-"free" countries, certainly could be improved.