| Poverty isn't pretty. That may sound like an obvious statement, yet I've heard some people doubt the benefits of economic growth and rising living standards over and over throughout my career. I first experienced this idea as a young journalist 20 years ago when I was awarded a fellowship to study regime change in Asia. I traveled with five other American journalists, touring several Asian nations that were undergoing dramatic leadership changes. Two of them, Indonesia and China, were very poor compared to the U.S. and were doing everything they could think of to accelerate growth and increase prosperity. Despite these efforts, several of my fellow journalists repeatedly warned people we met about what they considered to be the hazards and drawbacks of economic progress. My colleagues on the trip simultaneously romanticized poverty and doubted the benefits of economic growth. As for the citizens of these poor countries that we met with, they listened politely to this nonsense while their body language made it clear they thought we were crazy. But insane or not, these ideas persist today… | 
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