by Outcast_Searcher » Fri 28 Jan 2011, 13:31:54
This looks like a mighty politically slanted view to me. Notice how big a deal they say "economic disparity" is. The hit they predict dwarfs the impact in this chart of things like "fragile states" and "Demagraphic challenges".
I call leftist NONSENSE on this datapoint. (I'm a centrist). Note that having climate change as the big honcho is consistent with this left wing agenda (I believe in AGW but take a Lomborg (Skeptical Environmentalist) attitude -- let's LEARN more before we jump at shadows and spend $trilllions in a panic, but BAU is stupid too).
Income disparity has been generally widening since Reagan. Despite all the pointing at "evil rich people" and "business", technological change where someone with the right education an good timing can make orders of magnitude more money than J6P explains this very well (effect of the rise of the PC and related technology). Now with a bad economy, the trend accelerates as finding ways to automate causes this faster than new product innovation, IMO.
So yeah, economic disparity is a fact of life, and has been. By itself, compared to MANY of the things on the chart, it is a relative yawn (unless your primary agenda in life is to find excuses to redistribute income). Besides, if you want to fix it, making REAL progress in education would be the best long term fix that actually helps society. This chart is interesting, but should be viewed with the likely political slant in mind.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.