Will Greece soon be rich?

“Europe Should See Refugees as a Boon, Not a Burden” is a New York Times editorial that is typical of a view espoused by politicians eager to preside over a larger population. Young hard-working immigrants will make a country rich and enable schemes such as Social Security and Pensionfunds to keep going (a better ratio of workers to government-dependents).

At the same time we hear that roughly 3000 migrants arrive on the shores of Greece every day. “Greece’s Dismal Demographics” is a 2013 New York Times article on the aging/shrinking Greek population:

The most frightening figure is a Eurostat projection which estimates that, in 2050, 32.1 percent of the Greek population will be over 65, compared with 16.6 percent in 2000. And this projection was made in 2007, before the crisis hit Greece’s population. We were still living high, before widespread unemployment, hasty retirement and the emigration of those with the skills to succeed abroad. New projections will most likely be much worse.

If the Times is correct, won’t Greece benefit hugely from the waves of migrants arriving on her shores? If Greece can hold onto most of these new arrivals, and not let Germany lure them farther north, shouldn’t it be the case that Greece will soon be much richer than Germany?

And, if immigrants lead to wealth, why are European Union officials having to force EU members to accept immigrants?

-Thanks to Philip Greenspun.

Browser compatability now

In 1994, when Netscape Navigator was the most popular web browser, Marc Andreessen declared the browser would replace the OS. Clearly aimed at Microsoft, who proved them wrong with Windows 95, it still was a sign of things to come.


Now, Chromebooks and web-based tools like Google Apps routinely put everything on the Web. Faster, smaller, much cheaper computers, twenty years of development plus routine access to broadband have made “everything on the web” (or in the cloud) routine for us.

Up to recently however browser compatibility was a big headache. Now Html5 has changed all that, browser + Html5 = new OS! 

Html5test.com measures Html5 compatibility and provides a point score. Today Firefox 39 scores 467 of 555 points; Chrome 44 scores 526; Safari 9.0, 400.) In general, the four main browsers have improved hugely in the last few years.

Better browsers were supposed to replace operating systems since 1994.

Instead, they’re slowly replacing local applications, especially for mobile. Today, companies write applications and apps for iOS and Android, which you download through the App Store. Over time, many apps will become HTML5 wrappers, using CSS3 or JavaScript for many functions, then most, then all.

When browsers become “all” HTML5 or 5.1 (due next year), then more complex programs like Insight can become an URL instead of an app? Maybe.

The rich get richer

Upward social mobility, or at least the promise of upward social mobility, is what keeps most western societies going forward. This has been the case since I left school in the sixties.

 

People get out of bed in the morning because they expect today will be better than yesterday. We invest enormously in our children to give them the chance to do the best they can. Real life seems to be a constant striving for self-improvement for all. It’s like a conveyor belt.

 

This is what social mobility is all about and upward social mobility demands a bit of room on the hill for everyone. There has to be a chance.

 

But what happens if that social conveyor belt stops? What happens when the concentration of wealth at the top becomes so extreme that there is very little left to go around? What happens when policies all over the world explicitly work to make rich people richer?

 

This is exactly what has happened all over the West in the past 10 years. The recessions have provided a once-in-a-generation opportunity for rich people to become even wealthier. We have seen a massive transfer of wealth in the recession from the middle to the very rich. This has ensured a significant wealth divide – the sort of inequality not seen for over 100 years.

Not good for the future.

-Thanks to David McWilliams.

Live like this?

"Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, listen to music, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook in the evenings. Work regular hours."
-Jane Kenyon