17.12.1. Despite the occasionally gloomy predictions, things look
pretty good.No guarantees, of course, but trends that are
favorable. No reason for us to rest, though.
17.12.2. Duncan Frissell puts it this way:
- "Trade is way up. Wealth is way up. International travel
is way up. Migration is way up. Resource prices are the
lowest in human history. Communications costs are way
down. Electronics costs are way down. We are in a zero or
negative inflation environment. The quantity and quality
of goods and services offered on the markets is at an all-
time high. The percentage of the world's countries headed
by dictators is the lowest it's ever been.
"What all this means is that political philosophies that
depend on force of arms to push people into line, will
increasingly fail to work. Rich people with choices will,
when coerced, tend to change their investments and
business affairs into a friendlier form or to move to a
friendlier environment. Choice is real. If choices
exist, they will be made. An ever higher proportion of the
world's people will be "rich" in wealth and choice as the
years go on.
"Only a political philosophy that depends on the uncoerced
cooperation of very different people has a chance of
functioning in the future." [Duncan Frissell, 1994-09-09]
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind