The changes taking place in most of the Western countries are happening so fast and running so deep it is hard for even the most determined observer to keep up. More importantly still, the changes seem to have reshaped the way ordinary people evaluate economic and political performance. Nothing like it has been seen since the end of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Back then, more or less by popular acclaim, confidence in what was regarded as orthodox economic and political wisdom had been sh…
