Interesting Salon article - "The collapse of neoliberal capitalism"

[astro]

The collapse of neoliberal capitalism

More than 10 years ago, before 9/11, Goldman Sachs was predicting that the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) would make the world economy’s top ten — but not until 2040. Skip a decade and the Chinese economy already has the number two spot all to itself, Brazil is number seven, India 10, and even Russia is creeping closer. In purchasing power parity, or PPP, things look even better. There, China is in second place, India is now fourth, Russia sixth, and Brazil seventh.

[Quartz]

If anything, that article crows the triumph of the neo-liberalism of the BRICs and the defeat of the socialism of Europe. Of course, being Salon, it can’t actually say that.

It’s far better to be poor in the West than it is in India, China, or Brazil. Do you really want to live in one of Rio’s favelas? Or one of the slums outside Delhi or Calcutta?

And it’s far better to do business in a society based on the rule of law, rather than one where corruption is endemic.

But the article is suspect anyway: just because countries have changed their rankings doesn’t mean that those countries that have gone down are worse off (recession aside). This is relative prosperity, not absolute prosperity; it’s better for the world if every country is prospering.