John Dickerson, of CBS's Face the Nation, asked a focus group a great question yesterday. He asked, "We're in a library and let's imagine we're here twenty years from now, and there's a book on the shelf about 2016. How does this story end?".
The "story" he was referring to was the current U.S. presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The question was a good one because it provoked thought and reflection about the current times and what we're going through.
I saw an article a few days ago that reported the results of a recent U.S. financial survey. Startlingly, about 70% of survey respondents indicated that they had less than a thousand dollars in their savings account. Now, consider this article by respected economist Larry Summers, which suggests that the global economy is hitting stall speed. That means that even though the world population is growing, the global economy is not. That, in turn, means that people are faring worse than before. That's not a good thing. What's worse, as Summers points out in his article, governments and central banks aren't sure what to do about it.
I believe the answer to Dickerson's thoughtful question to his focus group is that the United States is a country of growing inequality between the top 10% and the rest of the population, a process that started in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan and one that has accelerated since the new millennium with the election of another Republican, George W. Bush. I believe that it's this rising inequality of income and wealth which is creating a sense of inequity in society, and which is causing voters to crave a great disruptor-in-chief, like Donald Trump.
In this election year, while showing that he can indeed be the human Molotov cocktail the masses want tossed into 2016 society, Donald Trump has also frightened and offended enough people to prevent them from electing him president.
Returning once again to Dickerson's question then, what will that history book about 2016 say about the era we are proceeding through? I believe it will read that, while Hillary Clinton went on to become president and steady the ship that is the United States of America, that 2016 was a preview of a new era when, years later, a younger, pragmatic version of Bernie Sanders and, perhaps, a nobler version of Donald Trump, would emerge to become the 46th president of the United States, to lead the citizens on a journey toward a more compassionate society. He/she would do it not just because it was the right path to lead them on but because it was a necessary one to strengthen the union and, some would say, indeed, to preserve it.
The "story" he was referring to was the current U.S. presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The question was a good one because it provoked thought and reflection about the current times and what we're going through.
I saw an article a few days ago that reported the results of a recent U.S. financial survey. Startlingly, about 70% of survey respondents indicated that they had less than a thousand dollars in their savings account. Now, consider this article by respected economist Larry Summers, which suggests that the global economy is hitting stall speed. That means that even though the world population is growing, the global economy is not. That, in turn, means that people are faring worse than before. That's not a good thing. What's worse, as Summers points out in his article, governments and central banks aren't sure what to do about it.
I believe the answer to Dickerson's thoughtful question to his focus group is that the United States is a country of growing inequality between the top 10% and the rest of the population, a process that started in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan and one that has accelerated since the new millennium with the election of another Republican, George W. Bush. I believe that it's this rising inequality of income and wealth which is creating a sense of inequity in society, and which is causing voters to crave a great disruptor-in-chief, like Donald Trump.
In this election year, while showing that he can indeed be the human Molotov cocktail the masses want tossed into 2016 society, Donald Trump has also frightened and offended enough people to prevent them from electing him president.
Returning once again to Dickerson's question then, what will that history book about 2016 say about the era we are proceeding through? I believe it will read that, while Hillary Clinton went on to become president and steady the ship that is the United States of America, that 2016 was a preview of a new era when, years later, a younger, pragmatic version of Bernie Sanders and, perhaps, a nobler version of Donald Trump, would emerge to become the 46th president of the United States, to lead the citizens on a journey toward a more compassionate society. He/she would do it not just because it was the right path to lead them on but because it was a necessary one to strengthen the union and, some would say, indeed, to preserve it.
