People aren't looking at how they're doing, but rather at how their neighbors are doing and at their own place in society.
The problem - at least in the United States - is not that people can't find jobs. The problem is that they're no longer finding jobs that provide them with dignity and decent social status.
Today, chess programs have become so good that even grandmasters sometimes struggle to understand the logic behind some of their moves.
I don't think it's time yet to eliminate cash, but I propose having a less-cash society, not a cashless one.
I tell my children that a man like Bill Gates has a personal fortune of $100 billion. They can't even comprehend that. Then I explain that he has more money than some countries.
I think that a lot of the money - these big bills - is used to facilitate tax evasion and crime.
We all use cash in our everyday life, but we don't use hundred-dollar bills. We're not using 500-euro notes. And yet these account for mountains of cash out there. I think they're being used in tax evasion and by criminals of all types.
Worrying about inflation now is like worrying about the measles when you might get the plague.
Unbridled capitalism will lead to some very real problems.
Marx's theory that only capitalists benefit from capitalism and workers are exploited was completely wrong. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Workers earned more as economies grew.
Workers are not being exploited. But if their share of growth doesn't increase, this could be a potential cause of social tension worldwide.
Cash is very easy to hide. It's easy to hoard. It's easy to move, especially these large bills.
There has been a noticeable decline in the labor factor in all wealthy countries in the past 20 years. The rich are getting richer, but those at the lower end aren't moving ahead as quickly as the capitalists.
The assertion that everyone benefits simultaneously from free trade is simply incorrect.
We Americans are not about to stop borrowing as long as they give us money for nothing.
The Indians and Chinese have become brilliant chess professionals. They get on a plane and play all over the world. This has led to dramatic pressure on incomes. Nowadays, the best chess player in Argentina can no longer make a living playing chess.
It comes as no surprise that average Americans have a different perception of the economy than (US President) George W. Bush and his friends. They can play around with statistics as much as they want, but it's clear that we have an unfair distribution of wealth.
It's quite astonishing how much money people make in the hedge fund business and in the private equity field, and how well-off affluent families really are.
We're not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the next few months, we're going to see a whopper.
... far more people make a living as professional chess players today than ever before. Thanks partly to the availability of computer programs and online matches, there has been a mini-boom in chess interest among young people in many countries.
Russia depends on natural resources way too much. Russian economy is not diversified enough
If you didn't have employers able to pay off the books and off the record safely in cash, you wouldn't have illegal immigration on nearly the scale that we do.
Global markets have a much bigger effect on prices and wages in the U.S. and elsewhere than they did before.
Unbridled capitalism in the United States can't be sustained socially. It leads to tensions.
Why are oil prices so low? First, energy consumption growth rates in developing markets have decreased. This is particularly noticeable in China. Second, new technologies are being developed and the shale gas revolution in the USA has taken place
