But other, more reliable, statistics offer grounds for optimism.
Recent developments seem to offer grounds for optimism.
Alexander Field, an economist at Santa Clara University, has called the 1930s the "most technologically progressive" decade of the 20th century.In the modern era Sweden offers grounds for optimism.
The reinvention of left politics in the countries most harshly affected by the Eurozone crisis might appear to offer grounds for new optimism.
Britain's generally good record of enforcing its own laws offers grounds for optimism too.For countries that care about such things, being shamed by nerds is a useful exercise.
Japan's manufacturers have low stockpiles of products to sell, however, and should not have to slow production much in response to mildly weaker demand.A few quirks in the data also offer grounds for hope.
Fukuyama acknowledges this is a problem even for societies built on his three pillars but says that the third pillar offers grounds for hope: political accountability means we can change our governments when things go wrong.
"The estimate offers grounds for hope that the problem can be solved diplomatically, without the use of force, as the administration has been trying to do," said Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser.
Tata devised the Nano, the world's cheapest car, with India's emerging middle classes in mind; it is now planning to launch it in Europe, too, where there is growing demand for cheap, simple vehicles.All this offers grounds for hope.
But these changes will come about only through difficult, international, political deals that the world's governments have so far failed to do.The best thing about the spread of the ethical-food movement is that it offers grounds for hope.
