I have used the term education so far, even when I refer to employability, but a better term is human capital, which refers to the broad set of capabilities, including health, knowledge and intelligence, attitude, social aptitude, and empathy that make a person a productive member of society.

Why are so many economies dependent on consumption elsewhere? Their dependence stems from the path they chose toward rapid growth, out of the destruction created by World War II or out of poverty. Governments (and banks) intervened extensively in these economies to create strong firms and competitive exporters, typically at the expense of household consumption in their own country

We have long understood that it is not income that matters but consumption. Stripped to its essentials, the argument is that if somehow the consumption of middle-class householders keeps up, if they can afford a new car every few years and the occasional exotic holiday, perhaps they will pay less attention to their stagnant monthly paychecks.

The top 1 percent of households accounted for only 8.9 percent of income in 1976,but this share grew to 23.5 percent of the total income generated in the United States in 2007.Put differently,of every dollar of real income growth that was generated between 1976 and 2007,58 cents went to the top 1% of households.In 2007 the hedge fund manager John Paulson earned $3.7 billion,about 74,000 times the median household income in the United States.