Shouldn’t we try to look at life not as we want it to be but more analytically? What are the trends that we’re seeing, what is the data? If you look around do you see a whole lot of trends or data that suggests we are making really good decisions?
Where are we?
Do you look around and see the number of people who don’t believe anything that they read unless it reinforces their view? If it were just people who don’t pay attention, don’t care and they didn’t believe the truth, that’s one thing. But the number of really smart, thoughtful people, highly educated, that don’t believe a damn thing that doesn’t reinforce their view is really alarming. The concern being expressed here is that we’re losing our connection to truth.
It matters because the thing we should be trying to remind people of is: Whether you love or hate Trump, the last couple of years have been about as good as it gets. When have we had things better in terms of peace and prosperity? Think about what we’re seeing.
That does not mean to downplay that there aren’t pockets of trouble. But, that’s the thing they are pockets of trouble. By most indicators, this is about as good as it gets. You could argue the last 20 or 30 years have not produced any better years.
What is our current situation?
Life is pretty darn good. Yes, we’ve had a level of mischievousness, manipulation and problems creation. This at a time when things are really good. Well, what’s going to happen in this next phase? At some point, things are naturally going to get tougher. We’re going to basically move from this period where we had synchronized global growth. We have had basically the world’s your largest economies all growing simultaneously in symbiosis.
We have had worldwide economic prosperity for a nice period. We are seeing an economic contraction in places. We will see it here too. Ultimately recession does come. If we’re behaving this poorly in good times what happens when there are fewer jobs and there are authentic reasons to be concerned.
Are you optimistic about how we’re going to behave in bad times? We have a generation of people not believing in anything. We have all this division at a time when things should be pretty good.
Are we acting with wisdom?
Have we really done anything to get at the heart of some of the issues? Think about it, whether it’s screen addiction or what can happen on these unregulated social media platforms. We haven’t really done anything. The way government works, we’re years away from putting some rules around privacy, data, and who’s responsible for the content that appears in different places.
Are you worried about China’s capacity to execute long term? What is their GDP growth?
Look at their growth in terms of just securing both talent and products using AI. Where are they spending their money? Are they spending to create alliances in places where we’ve pulled back? They play the long game.
The Chinese historically have played the long game. Do you worry they do have a plan to try to eat our lunch by a date-specific? Can we continue to just sit here? We’re not just polarized; we’re paralyzed by the polarization. That makes me worry about 15, 20 years from now. That doesn’t mean that we won’t figure this out.
Conclusion
It doesn’t mean capitalism isn’t far superior to communism. This doesn’t mean democracy is not far superior to authoritarianism. History shows we have figured it out in the past. Hopefully, we will figure it out this time, but those things worry me. There is serious competition out there needing some lunch.