How is the US Doing? The Big Dichotomies
How is the US doing? It depends on what and who you look at because there are huge dichotomies.
Wow! Did you see what the new ChatGPT can do? And did you see how the stocks of those technology companies and the people who started them and built them are doing? Unicorns are popping up like spring wildflowers in a fertile field. The opportunities for smart, capable people to make money have rarely been greater. It’s amazing.
And wow! Did you see homelessness out of control, lower and declining average education scores, deteriorating infrastructure, pervasive drug and gun problems, and dysfunctional and out-of-control politicians and government? It’s shocking.
This is the great and terrible of what US exceptionalism looks like.
US exceptionalism exists because the US has 1) an exceptionally well-developed capitalist system that fosters entrepreneurship and companies building out and efficiently delivering products, which creates big wealth and opportunity gaps, 2) exceptionally well-developed rule of law so that disputes can be resolved and agreements can be enforced, though the fairness of rule of law is increasingly being challenged, and 3) exceptional immigrants who come to the US, usually via exceptional American universities, both of which are increasingly under siege. If you look at those companies that have produced ~95% of the innovations that in recent years have produced most of the US stock market and economic outperformance relative to other countries, it comes down to something like a million people, roughly half of whom are immigrants (out of a US population of 333 million people). As a corollary of this, the top 10% of Americans have 48% of the income, 71% of the wealth, and pay 76%, of the taxes, while the bottom 50% have 10% of the income, 1.5% of the wealth, and receive more money than they pay in taxes.
Why are people so discontented and angry at each other when society, as a whole, has more than it has ever had? It's because of these dichotomies.
As AI and machines do jobs more cost-effectively than people at an accelerating pace, people will increasingly be less important and excluded from the system, and the dichotomies will naturally increase.
It appears to me that unless our leaders wisely decide how to bring us together in a way that increases broad-based productivity and prosperity, we could have the worst possible outcomes while having the most ever resources and potential opportunities.
Can we trust our leaders to work this out well?
While we need smart strong bipartisan leaders who will bring the country together and make big smart reforms so that we will have a system in which most people are well-educated, civil, and productive, we know that we won’t get that. Yet we are in a democracy that allows us to choose our leaders.
What is the problem?
Our biggest problem is how we deal with each other and our environment.
In other words, the problems are with us. While we need a lot more empathy, logic, and civility, it looks like we will have more selfishness, emotion, and discord. If that doesn't improve, both the rich and the poor should feel threatened.
I am a hyper-realist with idealistic aspirations so what I am telling you is what I believe is happening, what needs to happen, and what is likely to happen.
Honorary Professor of Medicine, UNSW Sydney
1moClassic Entropy.
Ray, many thanks for sharing! Referring to AI, to a given degree it is understandable that expectations on technologies focus on higher productivity, maybe now more so coming from cost savings in corporate tasks of relatively low complexity. Although this can make economic sense at a given moment it does not contribute to making it easier for many people to personally adapt and thrive. The question here might be then to which degree this new environment affects people’s sense of freedom and belonging in a democratic world.
First Vice Chair leading candidate recruitment at the Glynn County Democratic Committee to find candidates for state and local offices in Glynn County, Georgia.
1moOur capitalist system is totally short term oriented and promotes individuals to keep the benefits of their business and shuffle the costs back into the public domain. It is a system developed to sustain privileges for the few, not the welfare of all. Pollution of multiple kinds, exhaustion of common resources such as land, water and minerals have associated costs which do not appear in normal market valuations. Labor is exploited while the vigor of youth is available and thrown to the curb when health care becomes significant for older people. Current government in the USA is dominated by corporate lobbying and usually serves only the interests of the lobbyists. Whether the system changes peacefully or violently remains to be seen but, it is clear that major flux is coming to our Nation.
Director at ArchiAssist
1moThought provoking, thank you Ray. I however disagree with the idea of leaving solutions up to leaders. People need take it upon themselves to help themselves. This is an idalist aspiration but given the level of common people's apathy about anything involving self-improvement or self-education, the hyper-reality is this will not happen and people will continue to react to how the environment treats them, instead of developing themselvs to be proactive and take charge of their lives.
TLC Corp & Glacier Society, Inc
1moRay, well stated. I also am an optimist struggling in the swamp. The Nation will come out of this as we always have earlier in our history. Imagine what it was like to be alive in the late 1850's dealing with the expanding economy and rapidly developing new technologies, but with the battles for economic power, the North Industrial and Banking vs the agrarian's in the South. Socialism breaking out in Europe, Trade Union Violence emerging, social changes everywhere! Doesn't it sounds familiar? Our Nation will have new leadership soon. The Environment is sound and getting better. There is always more one could do. I would be honored to meet with you and share our vision on environmental exploration in Polar Latitudes. I am headed back to CT in early June. As they say in the UK, I'll give you a "Bell" Regards, Ben Koether, Glacier Society.org