The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[oldberkeley]

Re The Great Chinese Traffic Jam: I read about this last week. Absolutely unbelievable. Here's some photos:

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Huge-China-Traffic-Jam/ss/events/wl/082310chinatraffic#photoViewer=/100824/481/urn_publicid_ap_org1f2a9423cbcf423aa86edbc87100a840

To me this is a perfect metaphor for a what happens when what is in many ways a pre-industrial society leaps to the modern day without the intervening centuries of infrastructure building.