Things have gotten a bit sideways lately, it's true, but if you look at what some European countries are doing to prevent their post-industrial economies from c

Things have gotten a bit sideways lately, it's true, but if you look at what some European countries are doing to prevent their post-industrial economies from collapsing into chaos, to shield against climate change, to become more self-sufficient in terms of food, it is pretty amazing. What countries like China have done in the last twenty years is also amazing. I'm not saying it's without problems, or that this progress is always worthwhile, but you've got to admit the dramatic transformation from backwater third world country to major industrial power in the span of a single generation is pretty amazing. There's other examples like that, but they're mostly historical, like Iceland clawing its way out of being an impoverished country entirely dependent on scraping out a meagre existence fishing to a vibrant part of Europe both culturally and economically.