The Renaissance in Italy was paid for by the emerging banking industry, the Medici family is a good example of what happened. If you want large public works, and people like Leonardo da Vinci, then you also get families like the Medici. You can’t separate the two. So not just USA-centric.

“sweat of the subsistence farmer or the feudal peasant/slave was what built the foundations of most countries”, it was also access to different resources. Mining for silver in some areas, sheep and wool production in others, forestry in others … already by the 13th century the Hanseatic League had a large trade network in most of Europe (from the Mediterranean in N. Italy through Germany into the sea and along the coasts of the North sea and the Baltic sea to Norway Sweden Finland and Russia.

The USA has a bs mythology that it was founded by ‘pioneers’ and that a wild wild west existed. The untold history of the USA is really the story of finance. Those that financed, the joint stock companies that helped to bring immigrants over. The land speculators, and recruiters that brought over Irish and other immigrants over in the 19th century, through money provided by rail and steam companies.
These type of post-apocalyptic memes perpetuate the stereotype of a self-made country. When in reality financiers from England were offshoring labor to a country with fewer regulations and no copyright/patent laws.

I think we need to normalize alternative landscaping. Think tall and thin sumac with lots of mulch on the ground. Once in a year dump lots of mulch and don’t mow anything. If you don’t like gardening, and don’t spend time outside, just plant large bushes and mulch. I see so many people around that just don’t care about their lawn, and do the easiest thing so it looks like everybody else’s.

Neighbor cuts their postage stamp lawn with a loud lawn mower for 30 minutes. When they finish the next neighbor thinks to themself, ‘I should cut my lawn’, and starts a loud mower. When they finish the next neighbor starts. ALL Saturday. One after the other! Can’t you all just do it at the same time! Why can’t you use a push mower on a lawn that is smaller than a car parking spot! Why does it take you 30minutes, of using loud power tools, to cut a lawn the size of a car parking spot!!!