If its any consolation all 30 or so 1st world countries are saying the same thing.
Enough things came into conjunction the last century or two for a 'once in a species change' from our usual model of Elites/Peasant class domination. Industrialisation, science, fall of the old monarchies, and 'new men' competing not just for the usual warfare and exploration, they also had to outdo other countries in agirculture, medicine, astronomy, philisophy, law, etc.
Kids arent taught today that the late 19th/20th century was an amazing race of discovery- get their first for your country. And the effect was it dragged living standards up with it.
Then we just ran out of steam, discovery became consumption, we no longer cared whether a spaceship could get to venus we wanted a ruler with a calculator on it or cheaper washing machine. The west began warmongering, selling arms and looting the 3/4 poorer areas of the world to prop up our lifestyles. The guys at the top globalised and strangled everything until it was only one area with any wealth left, their own middle class.
And now they want that too
