The 20th century brought with it the anticipation that life would be better by all measures than it ever was before. The last decades of the 19th century were the prequel for the “Best Is Yet To Come.”
Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876. Harim Maxim invented the machine gun in 1885, but Karl Benz received a patent for the first practical automobile the next year. Five years later Jesse W. Reno invents the escalator. The foundation of everything modern and critical convenience we have came in a flurry of activity.
1901: the vacuum cleaner, 1902: air conditioning, 1903: the first powered flight followed by plastic, radio broadcasting, the first affordable and mass-produced motor car, and in 1910, neon lights.
It was a time that almost anything seemed possible. Andrew Carnegie: “Be king in your dreams.” John D. Rockefeller: “If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” Thomas Edison: “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Today we are a product of that thinking of 100 years ago.
Despite the two costliest wars in human history and all the catastrophes and tragedies, we have never experienced in human history the available abundance that we have today. While inequality and unequal wealth distribution and poverty exist in numbers that are far too great, life has never been any better. And we have the power, knowledge, and experience to continue this century-long trend to a better life for all.
Children were always born into families with parents and caregivers who were convinced that they could make the world better for the next and future generations. We expect our government leaders to share the same positive vision. Why would we choose someone to rule over us that did not believe in that vision and would work to make it a reality?
But leaders of the “first-world advanced” nations and economies do not seem to be on the same page as we in East Asia for the most part are on. Would we really want a president to say that we are at “The end of abundance”?
French President Emmanuel Macron, August 24, 2022: “What we are currently living through is a major tipping point…we are living at the end of what seemed an era of abundance…the end of the abundance of products of technologies that seemed always available.”
This came at the end of a three-week vacation at the Presidential hideaway at Fort de Brégançon for some beach time and jet skiing.
In December 2018, Americans were asked their views on the distant future. Roughly three-quarters of Americans regardless of political affiliation say the gap between the rich and the poor will grow wider by 2050. Most Americans (82 percent) expect widespread job automation, and few see this as a good thing for the US.
Entrepreneur magazine 2021: “In 1940, more than 80% of children earned higher wages than their parents at the same age. By 1984, there was only a 50% chance that children would out-earn their parents.”
This is not a new occurrence and is justified by the elite. Hillary Clinton, 2019: “We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” Former Governor of California Jerry Brown: “The conventional viewpoint says we need a jobs program, and we need to cut welfare. Just the opposite! We need more welfare and fewer jobs. In short, we are entering an era of limits.” Less is more, somehow.
Why be positive about the future when the government has told you that this is as good as it will ever be?