Inflation foreverWith countries like Tunisia and Egypt having civil unrest due to a low standard of living its hard to see how they can improve . They have high birthrates and very few resources to support a higher living standard . I don't know about the quality of their higher education system but generally the public is not well educated . So what industries are they going to develop that Asia can't do much better ? They can overthrow every government they get , democratic or not , and the fundemantal problem of too many people for too few resources remains . In the past countries without resources have developed as manufacturing and technology specialists . Say for example England , Japan , S. Korea , China . Even Israel has a good ecomomy due to its high level of education and business infrastructure .
So I don't see how the living standards can improve much in N. Africa . But if they can they will need as much more commodities per capita as Asians are beginning to use . And we all know how well thats going . But they will still be able to upset the flow of commodities and business in the region . So if they can't be suppressed then we're due for a long period of increasing commodity demand . Either because standards are improving for everyone , or supply is being crimped because of unrest .
regards
G