My own experience in the third world was that even if people started to make more money, the cost of living and housing increased often faster than the wages. ↗
The EU will face problems similar to the US: an increasing gap between the citizens and decision makers in Brussels and a perceived or even real lack of democracy. ↗
Even in political considerations, now-a-days, you have stronger motives to feel interested in the fate of Europe than in the fate of the Central or Southern parts of America. ↗
The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades. ↗
I do have a library of events I can talk about and I always expect to find a different point of view on it so even if I talk about the same event in the same town it's fresh. ↗