The Stagnation Of The West

In the News (Wall Street Journal): “Across 25 of the world’s advanced economies, about two-thirds of the population—more than half a billion people—earn the same as or less than their peers did a decade ago.

“Between 540 million and 580 million people in 2014 had lower or stagnant incomes than similarly situated people in 2005, according to a new study from the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of the global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. The finding presents a break from the trend in advanced economies during the post-World War II era when, throughout twists and turns, most families ended up improving on the standard of living of their predecessors.

“‘Prior to the financial crisis, all but 2% of people in the Western world ended up better off than people like them 10 years ago,’ said Richard Dobbs, a McKinsey senior partner and one of the report’s authors. ‘But the world changes when you get a cohort of people who are no longer advancing.’

“The study highlights the extent of the fallout from the financial bubble and global crisis it left behind. Incomes a decade ago were boosted by that unsustainable bubble, and the ensuing financial crisis plunged the global economy into a recession from which it has yet to fully recover.

“The damage helps explain why many voters are rejecting the established political order, as seen in the U.K.’s vote to exit the European Union, in the embrace of nationalist political parties, or the hunger for candidates removed from the political establishment as seen in the Republican and Democratic presidential races in the U.S.

“McKinsey surveyed households in the U.K., France and the U.S. In these countries, 30% to 40% of people said their incomes hadn’t advanced, indicating that even if transfers and taxes have allowed some families to improve statistically, many still yearn for higher incomes. These households expressed sharply negative views about trade and immigration. …

“The report highlights that one consequence, if these current trends aren’t reversed, is that ‘today’s younger generation is at risk of ending up poorer than their parents.’ …

“With slow economic growth, and potential disruptions from the aging of the workforce and workplace automation, McKinsey cautioned these trends could continue in the decade ahead, and that most households in advanced economies could experience another a decade of stagnation.

My Comment: We have passed the point of growth, and for the egoistic society things will never be better again.

We should understand that our development is according to the plan of nature, theCreator, and the only thing we can do is to examine it (through the wisdom of Kabbalah) and to fulfill it by the path of Achishena, I shall hasten it, before it forces us to fulfill it by the path of Beito, in its time, through great afflictions such as wars, terror, disasters, diseases, etc.
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