What Has Really Happened Since 9-11

In the 10 years since 9-11 Americans have become a sour, angry, and paranoid people.

The costs of the wars begun in the wake of the attack, combined with the corruption of the Bush Administration and the financial crisis, have caused our incomes to remain fairly static over the period.

In an era of growing scarcity, the rich always take it out on the poor, and even the middle class. They're eating the seed corn of their own market, and the fact that poor and middle class people haven't revolted against this treatment is a testament to the true patriotism and patience of the American people.

While our troops have been dying overseas our focus has turned inward. On this anniversary I want to say that's the wrong focus.

What has actually happened in the last 10 years is the largest democratization of wealth, and nominal middle class status, in the history of mankind. We talk about China and India, how their middle classes are growing. The same thing is happening throughout Latin America, in east Asia, even in parts of Africa.

This is an enormous achievement. Some one-third of the people of the Earth have been lifted out of abject poverty in the last 10 years. No, they don't have what we have, what western Europe has, what Japan has. Not even close. But there are some truly wealthy people now in China, India, Brazil, and Mexico, whose wealth is mostly home-grown. Cities are thriving as never before, growing as never before.

When families know their babies are likely to survive into adulthood, when they have a few nice things and hope for a better life, you know what happens? Peace happens. Birth rates drop. The population bomb is defused. Demand expands, demand for what richer countries have and what they make.

All this progress has been obscured, both by idiot Republican leadership that used the crisis as an excuse to enrich itself, by our own insecurity, and by the natural tendency of people to see NEWS as meaning first what's happening to them, to their families, to their communities.

Speaking of which. Crime rates are down from 2001. Despite rising unemployment, despite falling incomes, black and brown people are continuing to work legitimately, continuing to go to school and learn, continuing to try and better themselves and their communities.

We've also turned several corners on technology. We know now how to make money in renewables. We know now how to reduce demand for oil and gas and coal. Total demand remains high as the developing world develops, but that world is expanding its use of renewable resources even faster than we are.

The video that starts this post is an example of what's happening, even in the poorest parts of the world. Ingenuity. Solutions. Betterment. Green jobs. The lives of these people are unfamiliar to American eyes, but the lives of these people are better than they were a decade ago, and continuing to get better still.

The time has come for us to learn, to look around, and to recognize that the world is not going to hell in a handbasket, that it's actually improving, that we're starting to turn an important corner in terms of the global economy and its relationship to resources.

It's also a good time to note this. As the Internet continues to become more accessible to more people, this growth will only accelerate. The more people learn, the more people share, the more people make, the more peace there is, the more hope grows for our planet.

The time has come for us to join this world, to bring our troops home and to engage in the works of peace.