Brewed Fresh Daily

Reagan didn't defeat communism, but he did help put it out of its misery.

Rather, the knowledge economy set a pace that make-and-sell central planning simply couldn't maintain.  As a direct and indirect consequence of the failure of the Soviet Union, half the world's population has joined the global economy at, not coincidentally, the moment in history when information technology has become newly affordable for hundreds of millions of people.

This, more or less (that is, less the caveat about Reagan), is the essence of what Rich Karlgaard calls the "cheap revolution."  It bodes well for the world. As Rich noted in his speech tonight in Bozeman, the middle class in China is already 300 million strong.  Add in the emerging middle class in Eastern Europe and India, and it seems clear that we're likely at the beginning of an era of wealth creation unprecedented in scope and, possibly, scale.