I really find that hard to believe, and historically real growth has averaged about 2% year over year. Just because it has had short-run highs in the 1950s and 2000s does not mean that right now is abnormally low.
I'm from Oklahoma, and I always wonder how much of our social behavior is based on the fact that Oklahoma was, until recently, Indian Territory and land worked by farmers who came around the time of the land runs. If you're struggling to provide enough food for your family in 1889, there's no way you are letting your children not eat all of their food. I'm sure that is self-perpetuating in some way.
I absolutely love Perl, and I think that the newest versions of Perl 5 have taken much of the good things that Perl 6 promised and added them. I really think that Perl 6 misses the point and removes all of the charm of Perl. Why change sigils and all of these operators? The people who don't like them aren't using Perl anyway, and they won't be using Perl 6 just because it implements them in a more obvious but less meaningful way.
I also don't think the addition of a more mainstream object system is a positive thing, but that's a debate for another time.
Edit: And it's not just about sigils, but about changing things for no meaningful reason, especially things that set Perl apart and make it what it is.
How great was life for the average Cuban in pre-revolution days? I think if I were a Cuban I would be more than skeptical of undoing all of the positive things that have been accomplished since 1959.