I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…
The hourglass economy
New poverty figures show a big jump in the number of poorest Americans. Meanwhile, the middle class is disappearing
http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/09/13/the_hourglass_economy/index.html
It is quite likely that this trend will accelerate, in my mind. I have a lot of trouble conceiving of ways that this trend can reverse even if best-case assumptions are made (like we get an entire crop of new politicians in federal, state and local offices that actually truly were interested in the greatest good for the greatest number).
Third world are great places to live if you are rich and powerful (or are plugged in with those people), but to nearly everyone else it sucks. Vertical mobility is nearly non existent and even paths to change that include bloody revolution are just as likely to result in more of the same, just with fresh faced despots. When ‘real’ revolution happens (like in China), the result is often decades (or longer) of misery as the country now has to learn the difference between ‘evil’ educated elites and ‘beneficial’ educated elites. Basically, they get rid of the educated and upper class entirely and tend to scrape off most of the middle class at the same time leaving just the uneducated lower class, which tends to be quite ignorant and incapable of managing anything complex.
