The Middle Class Rocks!

This is a really fascinating article on the truly mind-blowing fact that, as of the last few years, a majority of the world's population is middle-class.

Whoa. Think about that for a second.

For the first time in history, a history filled almost exclusively with societies dominated by an elite that squeezed every ounce of profit from their serfs or slaves, a numerical majority of the Earth's population belongs to that beacon of political stability and democratized prosperity known as the middle class.

The article contains some interesting ideas, such as the fact that there are really 2 middle classes: a globalized, international middle class that consumes the same products and have as much in common with each other as with the poor of their own countries; and the middle class by the standards of each individual country, which varies wildly depending on where you live.

Plus they use an example of the first Casas Bahia (a national Brazilian domestic appliance store) to open in a favela as their headliner.

A Special Report on the New Middle Class at The Economist