That, combined with an outstanding dinner at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on Thursday, where  John Micklethwait, Economist editor and  author of the book God is Back, spoke about "where we were going, what happened and why he's paranoid optimistic", has helped me to feel good about the past 25 years - when everyone else wants to beat up the capitalists.

I grew up on Reagan's 1982 tax cuts which heralded twenty five years of prosperity. Due to the events of the past 18 months, it's been tough to defend the go-go markets of those decades, but Micklethwait helped me to see the global context for the economic growth. Micklethwait referred to the past 25 years of capitalism as the Great Opening.

A billion people have been lifted out of poverty through capitalism and freer markets. When people try to tie this period of history to the greed of Bernie Madoff and/or Fred Goodwin, he urged us to remind them strenuously that it is really about those billion people.

Who would really turn back the clock and do it another way, and not allow those billion people to experience a more abundant life?

When I was a child, my mother would try to get me to clean my plate by saying "the children of Africa or India (which she would use interchangeably) don't have the food we have". Think about how differently we think of Africa and India today. What happened? Well, India which was aligned with the Soviet Union until the fall of the Berlin Wall, embraced free markets and capitalism. Its government also didn't understand the technology sector. which has been an engine for growth, and so couldn't meddle in it.

Dambisa Moyo's recent book Dead Aid is, by all accounts, excellent. She argues that aid has kept Africa back. The book offers proposals for developing countries to finance development, instead of relying on foreign aid.

Micklethwait believes that Barack Obama by 2017 must do two things: firstly, bring the emerging world into the world order with participation in the institutions of power; and secondly, resell capitalism.

Capitalism and free markets have been good for the world, and for Britain. The decision to persist in our belief in free markets and capitalism must be taken to bring the next billion poverty-stricken people into the first world.

Julie Meyer is CEO of Ariadne Capital and founder of Entrepreneur Country.