June 25, 2008
SO MUCH DONE, SO MUCH YET TO DO:
Interconnected we prosper (William J. Amelio, June 25, 2008, IHT)
The World Bank recently revisited its "dollar a day" global poverty yardstick and came to a startling conclusion: It was wrong when it said some 250 million people in China had escaped from severe poverty between 1990 and 2004.Instead, by its latest count, some 407 million Chinese citizens rose out of poverty during those 14 years - roughly one-third of the entire population of the most populous country on the planet!
This upward shift is being repeated around the world with amazing implications for society. The Brookings Institution recently forecast that one billion people would join the ranks of this rising middle class by 2020.
This is cause for global celebration: The world's riches are being opened to all of its citizens, who in turn are contributing new value and advances that will propel the world economy to greater heights of shared prosperity.
Why, after centuries of human endeavor, is this amazing transformation happening now?
Because we have moved decisively from what we called "globalization" into a new era of global inter-connectedness, where not just goods but information and ideas flow across borders constantly and (for the most part) freely as near universal access to Internet-enabled communications moves closer to reality.
Which is why the panic over the end of the End of History is so amusing. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 25, 2008 10:49 AM
Which is also why concern about Poverty in America is so amusing. Not a single person in the US lives in poverty.
Posted by: b at June 25, 2008 12:28 PM