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The West will be at a crossroads and will have to choose between nationalism and isolationism, ideologies who are becoming more and more popular in the USA and several European countries, or a common destiny and closer ties to counter the growing influence of developing countries such as China, India, ecc.
Another problem that the West will have to face is the ageing population (UK, France and USA being the exception) and immigration coming from Subsaharian Africa/Middle East/East and Southern Asia for Europe; Southern and Central America/East and Southern Asia for the USA and Canada, Southern and Eastern Asia for Australia. This immigration could be key for these countries to offset their ageing population but they have to be careful with it as they must try to retain their national identities and culture and therefore either establish a peaceful coexistence or integrate them in their own society.
What future? Our future is Poverty for the many and comfort for the few.
The West (Western Europe, North America, Japan) has offshored its production of sophisticated manufactures to the emerging nations and thereby has dismantled the ladders of opportunity for a huge swath of its people. Canada's current account deficit today is north of $50 Billion (..and we don't have the luxury of issuing a reserve currency like the Americans) because most manufactured products we use today are made offshore. I read a stat a few years ago in a Manufactuing trade journal to the effect that, in the ten years ending in 2011, in the USA 54,620 (!!) manufacturing facilities that employed north of 6 million people LEFT the United States.
So, let's see now...we in the West have trained vast segments of the workforces of foreign countries in the organizational methods, procedures and the technologies that took a century to acquire, built their factories for them and allowed tariff free entry of the products that were produced in those facilities. In the process, huge numbers of our graduates exiting our institutions of higher learning can't find any jobs that would make use of their skills and talents because those jobs are now being performed by chinese, vietnamese, mexicans, and malaysians and so on. So Jobs, which most people need to survive as they can't depend on accumulated assets, are now paid less than ever before because corporations are bidding for labour 'over there' and not here.
Meanwhile, at least in Canada's case, the dollars foreigners earn from selling us their junk are being recycled into the Real estate of our major cities such that the average young person can't even afford to buy a modest home. When policies lead to a reduction in real wages for the majority combined with higher asset/housing prices, I call that 'impoverishment'. Except for the top 10% (government bureaucrats, shareholders, top CEOs, professionals), the future ain't here, that's for sure. Unless you don't mind flipping real estate or making condos.
What future? Our future is Poverty for the many and comfort for the few.
The West (Western Europe, North America, Japan) has offshored its production of sophisticated manufactures to the emerging nations and thereby has dismantled the ladders of opportunity for a huge swath of its people. Canada's current account deficit today is north of $50 Billion (..and we don't have the luxury of issuing a reserve currency like the Americans) because most manufactured products we use today are made offshore. I read a stat a few years ago in a Manufactuing trade journal to the effect that, in the ten years ending in 2011, in the USA 54,620 (!!) manufacturing facilities that employed north of 6 million people LEFT the United States.
So, let's see now...we in the West have trained vast segments of the workforces of foreign countries in the organizational methods, procedures and the technologies that took a century to acquire, built their factories for them and allowed tariff free entry of the products that were produced in those facilities. In the process, huge numbers of our graduates exiting our institutions of higher learning can't find any jobs that would make use of their skills and talents because those jobs are now being performed by chinese, vietnamese, mexicans, and malaysians and so on. So Jobs, which most people need to survive as they can't depend on accumulated assets, are now paid less than ever before because corporations are bidding for labour 'over there' and not here.
Meanwhile, at least in Canada's case, the dollars foreigners earn from selling us their junk are being recycled into the Real estate of our major cities such that the average young person can't even afford to buy a modest home. When policies lead to a reduction in real wages for the majority combined with higher asset/housing prices, I call that 'impoverishment'. Except for the top 10% (government bureaucrats, shareholders, top CEOs, professionals), the future ain't here, that's for sure. Unless you don't mind flipping real estate or making condos.
Good point but a pet peeve I have is that you mistake "The West" for developed nation. Japan although it had western influence from American control in the past, the country is not western. It is East Asian at best. Here are a list of prominent Western Nations. U.S.A, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, U.K, Switzerland,Denmark Sweden, France, Norway, Finland? and Austria. East of Austria and Germany is the end of the west and the beginning of Soviet influenced nations.
Here is a couple developed nations that are not western, meaning West European (Including North Europe and South Europe excluding Greece and the Balkans) or a country founded by West Europeans (South Africa is debatable if it a western nation).
Japan, South Korea, U.A.E, Qatar, Israel, Singapore, Kuwait, Brunei, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Their are a few more that are more debatable including many small island nations that are basically still British territories or dependent completely on tourism so are disproportionally represented. The other debatable ones are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and a few others.
What future? Our future is Poverty for the many and comfort for the few.
The West (Western Europe, North America, Japan) has offshored its production of sophisticated manufactures to the emerging nations and thereby has dismantled the ladders of opportunity for a huge swath of its people. Canada's current account deficit today is north of $50 Billion (..and we don't have the luxury of issuing a reserve currency like the Americans) because most manufactured products we use today are made offshore. I read a stat a few years ago in a Manufactuing trade journal to the effect that, in the ten years ending in 2011, in the USA 54,620 (!!) manufacturing facilities that employed north of 6 million people LEFT the United States.
So, let's see now...we in the West have trained vast segments of the workforces of foreign countries in the organizational methods, procedures and the technologies that took a century to acquire, built their factories for them and allowed tariff free entry of the products that were produced in those facilities. In the process, huge numbers of our graduates exiting our institutions of higher learning can't find any jobs that would make use of their skills and talents because those jobs are now being performed by chinese, vietnamese, mexicans, and malaysians and so on. So Jobs, which most people need to survive as they can't depend on accumulated assets, are now paid less than ever before because corporations are bidding for labour 'over there' and not here.
Meanwhile, at least in Canada's case, the dollars foreigners earn from selling us their junk are being recycled into the Real estate of our major cities such that the average young person can't even afford to buy a modest home. When policies lead to a reduction in real wages for the majority combined with higher asset/housing prices, I call that 'impoverishment'. Except for the top 10% (government bureaucrats, shareholders, top CEOs, professionals), the future ain't here, that's for sure. Unless you don't mind flipping real estate or making condos.
Good point but a pet peeve I have is that you mistake "The West" for developed nation. Japan although it has western influence from American control over the country is not western. It is East Asian at best. Here are a list of prominent Western Nations. U.S.A, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, U.K, Switzerland,Denmark Sweden, France, Norway, Finland? and Austria. East of Austria and Germany is the end of the west and the beginning of Soviet influenced nations.
Here is a couple developed nations that are not western, meaning West European (Including North Europe and South Europe excluding Greece and the Balkans) or a country founded by West Europeans (South Africa is debatable if it a western nation).
Japan, South Korea, U.A.E, Qatar, Israel, Singapore, Kuwait, Brunei, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Their are a few more that are more debatable including many small island nations that are basically still British territories or dependent completely on tourism so are disproportionally represented. The other debatable ones are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and a few others. Another group is developed Eastern European nations
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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It would be interesting to time travel and see if other world powers were diverse from migrations. We tend to think of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc as homogeneous when they might have been more diverse during their height. I know many Italian Americans have significant amounts of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (often up to 10%), at some point there was a large number of Blacks in Italy, same with North African.
The West is choosing diversity rather than cutting back on the welfare state that needs many young workers to support it. East Asia has the same low fertility rate but remains anti immigration. It will be interesting to see which strategy works out the best, both have pros and cons.
Good point but a pet peeve I have is that you mistake "The West" for developed nation. Japan .... Here is a couple developed nations ...
Let it be a pet peeve of yours if you want, but the so-called "west", some nebulous cultural term that no one can agree on, is irrelevant to economic history - who remembers the first humans who stood upright? who remembers the first group of hunter-gatherers? who remembers the first agricultural settlement? -, what matters is industrialization, the countries of early industrialization and now its global spread a mere 200 years later, 200 years, a small pittance in human history, a tiny, tiny window. The past before that is, as mentioned, increasingly irrelevant and will very soon no longer matter at all.
It would be interesting to time travel and see if other world powers were diverse from migrations. We tend to think of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc as homogeneous when they might have been more diverse during their height. I know many Italian Americans have significant amounts of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (often up to 10%), at some point there was a large number of Blacks in Italy, same with North African.
The West is choosing diversity rather than cutting back on the welfare state that needs many young workers to support it. East Asia has the same low fertility rate but remains anti immigration. It will be interesting to see which strategy works out the best, both have pros and cons.
Provide a source that supports your claims of 10% aDNA in Italians. There are studies that indicate that 1%-2% is not uncommon in Italians(and from very deep ancestry) entirely from the maternal side, however I have never seen any credible documentation of up to 10% in any individual unless that individual has recent Sub-Saharan African ancestors. It is also not uncommon in the US for individuals to claim hyphenated ancestries when in reality they have multiple ancestries or don't even know who their father is.
Last edited by AFP; 04-14-2016 at 03:29 PM..
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