I think there is something to this, but isn't this already widely recognised as one of the unwelcome outcomes of globalisation? As globalisation will essentially make everywhere the same, but it doesn't look like it will raise poorer countries to the types of levels previously enjoyed by the old '1st world' economies/countries, rather that we are now likely to see those old '1st world' countries exhibiting the traits of the '2nd world' or developing nation lands where you have the 1st/2nd/3rd world populations all existing within the same border?

i.e. cue a simultaneous rise in gated communities, etc. for the better off?

Well, IMO...

I feel we are headed down a dark dark alley with Karma or Greed catching up with the ones trying to run the countries and our society with gross negligence coupled with hardly having a chance from birth. being distracted, entertained,poisoned, egoized to death

In a bigger metaphorical picture this is needed, though if this is an engineered collapse then we should try and keep in mind that certain billionaires will play the game with the intent of staying very wealthy.So a long term catastrophe crash is not a guarantee.

So with that in mind, combining the deterioration of health in general of most systems on the planet, a predictable network of power and greed. One could say we are headed for a rough ride. Maybe this is the alley which is really a shortcut, society doesn't change until the brink of it's death. Individual humans change, not so much when it comes to todays societies.

Many, myself included feel compelled to keep up on the latest deterioration of the worlds system, somehow to give as an indicator of when it's all going and if it's going to crash. we've watched all the documentaries, news articles, 1000's of blog posts to gauge the" free thinkers" opinions...but what does it do,really, I have a feeling for many it entrapped, paralyses, puts you in a perplexed mood which may come out on your choices in life, you lose your passion and switch to survival mode, which is good in moderation.

My passion has always been self sustainability prior to being aware of the "Fake economy" as per B. Hicks. A drive for Independence, relatively speaking. A new system coinciding which many attributes of what you hear around the web as new civilizations. I feel its birthing out via peoples imagination and creative capacity. So the old will fade, as it does every moment.

I have heard a great deal on how one should direct his energies towards what he wishes to creates and I feel by writing this I can put it out there, my opinion( from the top of my head) releases me of commiting my awareness,focus,time,attention to a situation which in the greater scheme of things , I simply don't wish to contribute to.

Regardless of what happens I will use my wisdom,intent,intuition,friends,family,resources at that very moment,every moment, to the best of my ability.

That's what I feel right now.


LaHaver

Yes, of course we're creating an underclass. Hell, we already have one.

We're also a plutonomy, which means the middle class and the poor class don't add or subtract significantly from GDP; which basically means they are irrelevant.


This is the world the conservative republicans created, and the "liberal" democrats are on board the same ship, btw. So it's both parties who have been doing this.. The republicans are doing it in "over-drive," though.

These guys think that blue collar workers need to go back to school to learn to CODE and that's going to give them hope?

There's people CODING for less than 1.00 an hour in India.
I'm not so sure I'd listen to them.

But it never made sense to me how globaliszation was going to raise everyone's standard of living. It only made sense to me that it would AVERAGE it out - and the US was on top, and what happens to that top number in the range when it goes in the pot?? It comes out LOWER, that's what.

Way to take an interesting topic and make it into an arguement about the two parties

From one of those dirty "liberal", "progressive" people (I get called that all the time, which is hilarious considering the democrats wouldn't have a thing to do with me. I voted for Nader too, don't get me started), the whole "teach them to code" thing was laughable. Yea, you are going to retrain a whole generation of people in coding? I can see it now, 50 something year old boomers holed in basements all across this country with flickering florescent lights just typing away for hours and hours on end. It seems strangely like some sort of hell.