In a large urban area like the one I live in, there are what they call "bedroom communities." These are almost exclusively residential, with shopping and other support elements.

There is not much in the way of industry. Nobody works in bedroom communities. They just live there.

Bedroom communities exist because there are massive office buildings, power plants, and factories someplace else.

I have been hearing a lot from people who want to move out of America to someplace else. Someplace where the famous writers and artists have second homes. Someplace where the people are Better and Wiser, and where all the cowboys and guns are on TV.

Bedroom nations.

Bedroom nations have industries, but not that many. They don't have any significant defense systems and don't spend money on them. Their primary function is providing services to their inhabitants. Often tourism figures prominently in the economy.

Their impact on the world? Not much.

It would be a relief to live in a place like that. Nobody is looking at bedroom nations, wondering what they're going to do to fix the Middle East. Nobody is looking at bedroom nations to fix the Sudan. Nobody in bedroom nations ever worried about the Soviets crushing them, or other evil forces. Somebody else picks up most of that load. Nobody worries about technological innovation, medical breakthroughs, and other modern marvels. Those get mostly imported.

Nice houses, health care, good food, and all the things you need to get through the day. Probably paid for by the government, since bedroom nations tend to think along those lines.

It's understandable to want to live there. No pressure. You can sit in a nation whose major export is postage stamps and tell the rest of us how things ought to be.

The mayor of a small town in the Midwest worries about potholes. The mayor of New York City has a heavier load.

I have the luxury of spending a week at a nice resort with spas, restaurants, and all the luxuries I could need, because somewhere else somebody is smelting metal, farming, running huge factories, chopping down trees, and doing the nasty work that supports this kind of living. Most importantly, generating the surplus wealth that makes it possible for such resorts to exist.