Four of the world's eight richest individuals are Indians according to Forbes magazine. In all, India has 53 billionaires â the most in Asia and the fourth highest in the world, behind the US (469), Russia (87) and Germany (59). The Indians in the top 10 are: Lakshmi Mittal (4th, $45b) Mukesh Ambani ($43b) Anil Ambani ($42b) K P Singh (8th, $30b) http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/05/ri...res-billionaires08-cx_lk_0305billie_land.html
I'm a little scared to see what these numbers will look like in 20 years if this keeps up and the dollar keeps sliding.
In one way these numbers show that degree of the concentration of wealth in an economy. Of the top 4 countries, Germany is the best off when it comes to general population living and environmental standards which includes low crime, free healthcare and education. Here is why US is going down: Due to extreme focus in the society for consumption and 'keeping up with the neighbours', the families are spending more and saving less and thus piling up debts. With debts piled up and consumption+quality pressure ever in the increase, the US families tend to opt for fewer children. Hence US population has entered a phase where majority of folks will be 50+ i.e. old age bracket. This has negative effects on the industrial production, labor force, general demand and innovation. No wonder why China is contemplating of removing 1 child per family limitation. Ever heard the phrase 'save for the children, they are our future'.......Americans forgot it over the consumption mania and ramphant debt piling.
The Final Empire: The Collapse of Civilization and the Seed of the Future www.thefinalempirebook.com In spite of its tough message, there is much compassion and humanity in The Final Empire. Right away as you begin to read this work, you sense increasingly the grand perspective in Kötke's words. He is not speaking of anarchy. He is offering vital common sense. It's just that his meaning is so unavoidably political. And so much against what we have been taught all our lives: The materialistic values of civilization teach us that the accumulation of wealth is progress. The material wealth of the civilization is derived from the death of the earth, the soils, the forests, the fish stocks, the 'free resources' of flora and fauna. The ultimate end of this is for all human species to live in giant parasitical cities of cement and metal while surrounded by deserts of exhausted soils. The simple polar opposites are: the richness and wealth of the natural life of earth versus the material wealth of people living out their lives in artificial environments. This amounts to a direct challenge to humankind. A demand for radical change. A re-envisioning of our part in the community of life and the precepts of individuality. And Mr. Kötke provides a strong argument for this case. He traces the environmental scars of civilization through the ages. Empire after empire, desertification of the top soil winds its way around the globe in an erosive helix from China to India to Mesopotamia to Italy to North America. As radical as it may seem at first glance, The Final Empire is a necessary and sensible primer for the recovery of the planet. It blends a critical statistical analysis of our deteriorating environment with a positivism of hope for a post-empire age and a new whole-human relation to the living community of Earth.