Construction at the Costanera Center in Santiago, Chile.

It's been a tradition since the early-20th century for the richest countries in the world to celebrate their success by building the world's tallest buildings.

It's a basic human impulse, I suppose, to show off this way, to proclaim oneself the king of the hill and build the skyscraper for everyone else to gawk at in envy.

Hence, the Empire State Building in the 1930s, the multiple towers still going up in China, and now Chile.

A 984-foot-tower, part of the Costanera Center, is going up in the posh Vitacura neighborhood of the Chilean capital of Santiago, and when finished, it'll be the tallest tower in Latin America.

It'll also be the second tallest in the Southern Hemisphere, behind another one in Sydney, Australia. It'll be just 30 feet shorter than the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, the tallest building in that city. You can see a picture of the Cesar Pelli-designed skyscraper here.

Chile, as has been reported ad nauseum, claims one of Latin America's most dynamic economies and is on the verge of becoming a developed country, the only country in the region in such a position. Huge copper reserves plus trade-friendly policies help explain the accomplishment. Relatively efficient, clean government has also helped.

I could see the results everywhere as I traveled around the country this past week. Glass skyscrapers straight out of the Denver or Houston skyline dotted Santiago. Modern highways linked the capital to the coast. Sharply dressed businesspeople drove shiny new cars to work. In other words, the American, or rather Chilean dream.

So of course up goes the tower.

The flip side, however, is Chile also claims Latin America's second highest rate of income inequality, only behind Brazil. So when the new tower is completed, those poor folks on the outskirts of Santiago will always be able to see where the rich folks live (unless the city's notorious smog blocks the view).