It is important to understand that all of that debt did have a very positive effect on our economies, jobs, and lives. As we talked about in chapter 1 on how the economy works, when asset prices rise, people feel richer and spend more, which in turn creates more jobs because their spending drives the economy. Growth would not have been nearly the same without it and, therefore, many of the benefits to society would not have accumulated as quickly without it. The number of people in the world living in extreme poverty—earning under $1.90 per day—has fallen significantly, from more than 50
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