The Economist ( Yes ! I like the economist very much) has an interesting article on how over the past 400 years the West has maintained a promise of better times from generation to generation. Now hope is on the move.
" The rise of positive thinking ", population demographics and Nandan Nilakani's quote" greatest achievement lies not in producing technology but redefining the boundaries of the possible" make this an interesting article to read.
There is also a takeaway that along with propserity comes responsibility - a message for the BRICI countries.
Now hope is on the move. According to the Pew Research Centre, some 87% of Chinese, 50% of Brazilians and 45% of Indians think their country is going in the right direction, whereas 31% of Britons, 30% of Americans and 26% of the French do. Companies, meanwhile, are investing in “emerging markets” and sidelining the developed world. “Go east, young man” looks set to become the rallying cry of the 21st century.
For most of its history America has kept its promise to give its citizens a good chance of living better than their parents. But these days, less than half of Americans think their children’s living standards will be better than theirs. Experience has made them gloomy: the income of the median worker has been more or less stagnant since the mid-1970s, and, thanks to a combination of failing schools and disappearing mid-level jobs, social mobility in America is now among the lowest in the rich world.
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