This places enormous stress on the fabric of society which not only struggles to provide for those such as AIDS orphans, but now needs to deal with the demands of a growing number of people around the world who previously had jobs and  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  aspirations, many of them with skills and education, and who now find themselves in a situation where the chance of finding employment diminishes by the day.
The demands on governments multiply under such circumstances, at a time when excessive fiscal austerity is the order of the day in the advanced economies, with large cutbacks in government spending and provision of basic social services. Unless governments can get growth going again, social and political disaffection is likely to spread, as we have already seen in a number of countries in Europe.