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A country's progress cannot just be measured in its GDP, because wealth can be concentrated in the hands of a few while the country as a whole is deep in poverty. Many times throughout history, a few in the government or supported by the government wind up taking enormous profits, while destroying the country's people and even the land with short-sighted tyranny. Whether it's capitalist investors who reap the profits or socialist party officials, the net result is the same: it can't be called progress if it ruins the land and the people.

Quality of life indicators must also include the health of the land. Is the country's way of life sustainable? Will there be space, food, clean water for the next generation, or are the country's practices destroying future resources?

Ironically, in the 21st century, some unindustrialized nations are ahead by bringing in new greener technologies. Cables and telephone lines don't need to be laid and thus don't disrupt the environment if the phone system's on a cellular network, just as an example. Power plants can be designed to use natural sources like wind or geothermal to begin with, reducing the waste going into the water and air. These things can make a profound difference to quality of life. They are not just the province of environmentalist activists, they boil down to the practical common sense decisions that made some civilizations rise to prominence while others fell apart under the effects of their own refuse.

Rome's greatness, among many things, rested on aqueducts and sewer systems, on sanitation and water supplies to sustain its cities and roads well-maintained to connect the far-flung parts of the Empire. So why would a country that's turning enormous profits but letting its infrastructure fall to ruin be seen as progressive? The only progress there is the profits of the people on the back end, and their descendants will reap the same problems as the people whose lives are distorted in their time.

Health care is a basic measure of a country's progress. How are the elderly, the young, the disabled and the sick treated? The levels of infant and maternal mortality are an important indicator that America seems to have forgotten, because the US has been sinking in relation to other first world nations in that regard. I don't call that progress. It's not about whether the very rich turn a greater profit. It's about the chances an infant or its mother has of surviving the birth that tells me whether a society has made progress

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