How about one simple metric as defined by the World Bank (whose mission is “Ending Global Poverty”): Poverty. Poverty has declined markedly around the world in just the past 20 years. I recall reading somewhere a while back that in the early-19th century, 75% of the world’s population lived on less than $1 a day (adjusted for inflation) and that this figure had fallen to 20% as of a few years back. I’m not saying that this is the perfect metric, but I don’t think you have to squint very hard to see that the lot of the average person around the globe (if not in the U.S. specifically) has improved quite a lot over the last several decades. In fact, you’d have to do a lot of squinting and tilting of the head to view the contrary.[/quote]
Now that is an organization with vested interest in keeping our heads tilted a certain way. The World Bank is essentially a third world looting operation and launching pad for neoliberal agenda. Developing countries are effectively neutralized politically, have their wealth gaps driven dramatically wider, communities destroyed and economies crippled in the long run. It’s creating massive wealth imbalances and serious environmental degradation. It shifts poverty around and makes in more extreme. Which is why we have the highest percentage of the world living without clean water than ever before along with a myriad of other unhealthy living condition statistics not seen in just income stats.
John Gray wrote False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism, which was a fun book on the subject.
IMO, we are at beginning of it’s end as trade wars, competitive currency devaluations, economic collapses, political upheavals are bound to happen. As well as potential wars, which is usually the case with such extreme instability.[/quote]
You conjectured that, “Now that is an organization [The World Bank] with vested interest in keeping our heads tilted a certain way.” You got that right. The World Bank wants to make poverty look as ubiquitous and entrenched as possible in order to increase the need for their “services” (re: existence). And even their statistics show poverty substantially declining on an overall basis over the last few decades, your criticisms notwithstanding.
