Where does Americas wealth really come from?

(Warning: I didn't really structure this paragraph I just kinda went off an a tangent so hopefully it makes sense.)

So i was working a job all day today that didn't really require much thought from me so my mind started to wander. I was thinking about gas prices and how misleading they will be to the american people. What i was thinking about was the current situation economically. Maybe my thoughts are being heavily influenced by tocquville's "democracy in america," but i was think about what got us in to it and what will get us out. Looking back on the history of our country and why people came over here, is very different from reasons why say spain came over to the americas. It is a great comparison of what makes us great. When spain came over they only cared about one thing. Gold, or in other words power. The were one of the most powerful nations in the world. However they invested poorly. Americans new that real wealth does not come from how much gold or riches but from freedom of thought. After all that gold spain never became a super power. It was Thomas Jefferson who took John lockes original life, liberty, and pursuit of property and changed it to life liberty and pursuit of happiness. I think personally he changed property because he knew that mans happiness comes from gaining more knowledge rather than by having the most stuff. In recent years we look at the economy that grew during the 90's. One of the largest economic expansions in the u.s. since the industrial age. We had the internet boom. The internet which basically allowed a broader exchange of ideas. Now Knowledge has become more instant. Its not surprising the current economic crisis is based on property. Anyways i'm not trying to say that its bad to own property, i'm just saying that as americans we need to get away from the trend we've been in of trying to acquire wealth through getting lots of stuff and using oil to power our economy. We need to use our brains more and be a beacon to the world of free thought and technology so while china is poor from running out of oil we will still be a great nation because we Will have developed knew technologies to sell to the world. After all its our abilities to think and reason which is what has made us great.

So whenever i'm not working on some boring work video I always round up any friend that I can and say "hey let's make a movie" So when i was in school took a class on rhetoric, and in the course of the lesson the teacher who was from arkansas, and of course loved Bill Clinton, brought up a man named Dale Bumpers. Dale Bumpers was the senator who was the head of defense in the clinton impeachment trial. Now i tell you all this because when my friend and I heard his name we couldn't get over how hilarious his name was. So of course we started making movies about a guy named Dale Bumpers. In the movies everyone always calls him by his full name and over and over. It just became the running gag. Anyways here is the latest one we made.


New Dale Bumpers from Will Thomas on Vimeo.