Not so very long ago, America was the destination for capital and talent.

FORBES: Wriston's Law Still Holds

It is easy now to be complacent about Europe's current relative stability, forgetting just how unlikely this seemed not so very long ago.

WSJ: Nobel Prize for EU an Inspired Decision

Once, not so very long ago, private individuals could not get access to photocopy machines except at certain government offices, such as the Post Office of Public Libraries.

FORBES: Colleges And Universities Should Operate More Like Businesses

One responder to a CNN article about the IMF forecast made a reasonable comparison of the current China syndrome to the anxiety that Japan generated in the United States not so very long ago.

FORBES: Do the Chinese Envy America? IMF Forecasts, Purchasing Power Parities -- and Chuck Colson

While today we are a successful growth company executing on a powerful vision, not so long ago, SAP was faced with the very unpleasant task of cutting 3000 people from its payroll worldwide when software sales dropped sharply during the economic crisis in 2009.

FORBES: To Hire or Fire, that is the Question

Not long ago they beat a very decent Nottingham side so we know that we will have to raise our game and be at our very best.

BBC: Clive Stuart-Smith column