In today’s global economy one would expect significant economic growth and societal improvement to occur in developing nations because, after all, they’re developing. When a nation’s economy starts from nothing the sky is the limit for the immediate future. We see this in all of the countries that are finally participating in capitalistic ventures at the international level. They are on sound paths leading them out of second-and-third world status, perfectly exemplified by China’s growth in Gross Domestic Product which is forecasted to exceed 10% in 2007 for the fourth year in a row.

One would not expect similar success amongst the developed nations of the world for a variety of reasons. Among them is confusion over globalization. Many developed nations have not realized that international trade goes both ways; as much as they possess markets for goods and services being produced or provided abroad they fail to see that they, too, have goods and services that those new economies want. This unknown influences the overall outlook that a nation’s leaders - public and private sectors both – have concerning their role in international trade. They ultimately believe that the developing nations are robbing them of future growth not only abroad but at home as well.

Much more so than this confusion, the greatest cause of limited economic growth in industrialized nations may be a somewhat deliberate maintenance of the status quo. Being that these nations had long ago achieved first-world status and what their citizens and leaders believe to be the pinnacle of civility, their hunger for betterment is tamed because the "same old same old" feels so good. From this, public policy becomes fraught with high taxation and very few private enterprises think outside the box (or their country’s borders). In the case of some European nations where this is normal behavior it has not only limited their growth but it has also created stagnancy or, worse yet, dying economies.

One nation has surprisingly bucked this trend and is moving forward while the other modernized societies stand still. In only 15 years Ireland has transformed itself from a land of poor farmers and tired industry into the second wealthiest nation in the European Union.

As the 1980’s closed out Ireland was a laughingstock in international circles. Its unemployment and inflation were both a frightening 20%, causing young people to leave due to the lack of opportunity. The only thing keeping Ireland’s putrid economy afloat was trade with what was pretty much its only trading partner, Great Britain.

Fast-forward to the present where things are vastly different. Their economy is now growing at a solid 5% annualized rate after nearly a decade of implausible growth that exceeded 6% per annum and even broke the magical 10% mark. This has resulted in unemployment being a very low 4% and people moving-in in droves. Ireland now exports and imports in volume and is home to over 1,000 multinational corporations. Ireland’s GDP per capita is now $43,600 which actually surpasses by $100 that of the world’s preeminent economy, the United States of America.

This turnaround has been dubbed the "Irish Miracle." This moniker does not tell the true story. It was more than a miracle for it did not come from happenstance or good luck. It came to be out of intelligent governance atypical to that of other industrialized nations. Ireland’s leaders had it in their minds that they wanted to rid their nation of poverty. Rather than using the band-aid approach that so many other nations – including ours – do of using government funds to give income or assistance to those in poverty, which then ultimately maintains national poverty, Ireland instead created an environment conducive to prosperity, which, in the end, destroys poverty.

Their most important tool in this reinvention was the act of decreasing taxes. The corporate tax rate in Ireland stands at 12.5%, one-third of the average of the rest of the European Union. This beckoned foreign business to their land, setting-off a domino effect where all other businesses fed off the new opportunities. During that same period the personal tax rate in Ireland dropped from 65% to 42% and the people prospered more than the businesses did.

The successes of Ireland’s recent history should be a template for all other modernized nations. Rather than just skating-by as so many of those nations do, Ireland focused on the future by basically eliminating the monetary hurdles associated with Big Government. Because of that, Ireland, its economy, and - most importantly - its people have flourished.

Let’s hope our leaders have been paying attention. Maybe they can pull off our own miracle.