Usually, throughout history, the very rich have dominated most societies.
As a young man in the 1970s, I saw the middle class represent about 45 percent of the population in America. I felt some hope that our country could go against precedent and prove that the middle class could continue to grow.
Now I’m not sure about that unique promise of America. The middle class portion of our population is now shrinking, and we are dominated by the very rich. Multinational companies have managed to gain 40 to 50 percent of the market share among many business sectors.
40 years ago I thought we had an opportunity to prevent that trend and maintain robust competition within the marketplace and within politics.
But are we now beyond the tipping point, where things tend to correct themselves? Is reform, for the benefit of the average person in America, going to be increasingly difficult as we go into mid-century?.
Life-changing inventions, economic collapse and widespread war have traditionally been the engines to change social order (for bad or good) globally and within countries.
My hope is that war and depression are out of date as prime change agents. Today we’re in a whole new situation in which life-changing breakthroughs are coming at us from at least eight different directions.
Look for mind-bending changes in biotechnology, gene editing, biofuels, quantum computing, space exploration, renewable energy and materials science as well as artificial intelligence.
How we manage those changes will determine who benefits: the many or the few.
* How have your thoughts changed about a tough issue that, over the years, never seems to be resolved?
This is an excellent commentary on the old “Just say no” campaign. I’d been a counselor in an adolescent treatment center and I know these kids fall into drug use for many different reasons. Those reasons need to be addressed before recovery can begin and continue. The emergence of fentanyl is really scary. Friends of mine in a Nar-Anon group (for families affected by drug/alcohol use), report that, in their group of about 20 families, there have been five fentanyl related deaths in the past three years.
Thanks, Joe. I totally lack the background and expertise in this subject that you have, so your comment is so reassuring that I wasn't stepping off the deep end in trying to write about this topic in at least a half-way intelligent way.
Usually, throughout history, the very rich have dominated most societies.
As a young man in the 1970s, I saw the middle class represent about 45 percent of the population in America. I felt some hope that our country could go against precedent and prove that the middle class could continue to grow.
Now I’m not sure about that unique promise of America. The middle class portion of our population is now shrinking, and we are dominated by the very rich. Multinational companies have managed to gain 40 to 50 percent of the market share among many business sectors.
40 years ago I thought we had an opportunity to prevent that trend and maintain robust competition within the marketplace and within politics.
But are we now beyond the tipping point, where things tend to correct themselves? Is reform, for the benefit of the average person in America, going to be increasingly difficult as we go into mid-century?.
Life-changing inventions, economic collapse and widespread war have traditionally been the engines to change social order (for bad or good) globally and within countries.
My hope is that war and depression are out of date as prime change agents. Today we’re in a whole new situation in which life-changing breakthroughs are coming at us from at least eight different directions.
Look for mind-bending changes in biotechnology, gene editing, biofuels, quantum computing, space exploration, renewable energy and materials science as well as artificial intelligence.
How we manage those changes will determine who benefits: the many or the few.
* How have your thoughts changed about a tough issue that, over the years, never seems to be resolved?
You write so well, Jim. Thank you for creating this site and allowing so many of us to experience your creativity.
This is an excellent commentary on the old “Just say no” campaign. I’d been a counselor in an adolescent treatment center and I know these kids fall into drug use for many different reasons. Those reasons need to be addressed before recovery can begin and continue. The emergence of fentanyl is really scary. Friends of mine in a Nar-Anon group (for families affected by drug/alcohol use), report that, in their group of about 20 families, there have been five fentanyl related deaths in the past three years.
Thanks, Joe. I totally lack the background and expertise in this subject that you have, so your comment is so reassuring that I wasn't stepping off the deep end in trying to write about this topic in at least a half-way intelligent way.