BarkellWH -> RE: New Dimensions, New Times (Jan. 30 2014 14:11:40)
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wow...ya'll so depressing again. The world is F ing BEAUTIFUL! we all are lucky to experience this brief moment in time. Wealth is not colored pieces of paper or statistics in a bank statement. Once you realize it, you understand what freedom is. Viva flamenco!, arsa y toma!! Right on, Ricardo! There is plenty to be thankful for. While there may not be the same accelerated mobility in the U.S. that we experienced post World War II through the 1960s, most people are doing OK. There are pockets of poverty, but poverty probably will never be completely irradicated, and as economies improve, poverty always gets redefined upward anyway. I remember well the period 1979-1980, when the rate of inflation reached 14 percent and people watched their savings rapidly eaten away. We're doing much better than that today, and have done so throughout the 1980s and 1990s when the economy took off. In my opinion, that the current recovery has not resulted in the job creation some expected is a result of automation and the requirements of the "knowledge economy." It has resulted in greater efficiency, and there isn't the same need for labor in manufacturing. Overseas there is reason for optimism as well. Since Deng Xiao Ping set China free of its stifling Marxist economics and introduced Capitalism and private enterprise, literally millions of Chinese have been pulled out of poverty. We are seeing the same phenomenon in India now, with millions of Indians beginning to enter the middle class. Of course the doomsayers will reply that all of this has meant greater inequality. That is the mantra today. In time, however, the great gap will close to within sustainable levels. In any case, a certain amount of inequality is good, as it drives people to strive for upward mobility. While all of the above concerns, as you put it, "colored pieces of paper" and "statistics in a bank statement," your point about it not being the sum total of "wealth" is on the mark. We are indeed lucky to be living in this brief moment in time and experiencing the freedom that most of us have to do pretty much as we want. Cheers, Bill
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