"Diminished expectations"

Okay, so I was listening to NPR on my walk and the host was interviewing a reporter (I think it was a reporter) who was at the G2 Summit in Toronto.  The man was talking about some of the different global issues that were being discussed.  He said the host country can decide on one issue that it believes needs attention and can present that topic for discussion.  In this case, it was maternal and infant health / well-being.
The reporter said that the leader asked for 5 or 6 billion dollars toward implementing solutions to this problem and he said, "that really isn't very much money."  Of course, the ordinary person's jaw would drop at that comment, but looking from a global perspective one can see his point.  What he said next made me think.  And, I kept thinking and thinking. 
He said that in the past people have asked for more money and then made promises that they weren't able to keep because the funds didn't come through.  In this case, they thought that asking for a reasonable amount of money would be better since there was a better chance of getting what they asked for.  He then said,  "What this means to me is that we are living in an era of diminished expectations."
I kept repeating: diminished expectations, diminished expectations, an era of diminished expectations.
Think about it...   What does it mean to have diminished expectations? 
How does one see life?
There is the macro level of expectation - what we expect from the world, from the government, from the health care system, from philanthropists, scientists, and on and on.  And, there is the micro level of expectation - what do we expect from and for ourselves?
Then, there are the big questions:  what happens when our expectations are squashed.  How do we perceive our world and the world at large when our expectations are not met? 
Do we lower them?  Do they become diminished?
Do we allow fear and frustration to override our desires for justice, or our desires for meaningful and trusting relationships?  What happens to how we feel about God when we feel like He hasn't met our expectations?
Are we really living in an era of diminished expectations?  If so, why?  What have we come to expect that is so out of our reach that we have to continually lower what we think is a reasonable outcome?
Why is there such weakness in terms of allowing ourselves to be disappointed?  Are we so spoiled that we can't hope for something that might not work out in our favor?
I keep thinking about diminished expectations.  It's interesting to look at everything in terms of how expectations play a role in choices, emotions, reactions, and apparently the G2 Summit.
carry on.