Neil Howe: It’s going to get worse; more financial crises coming

[Bob Butler 54]

(05-30-2016, 10:34 PM)MillsT_98 Wrote: Speaking of which, when did the "new elite" become the "old elite"? I know right now the Boomer elite is now the old elite but I know back in the 2T they were the new elite, but when was the turning point?

Good question.

Looking at older cycles and crises, it is fairly clear who is the new guys and the old guys.  When the king is opposing the parliament, the King is representing the older power structure.  When southern plantation owners and robber barons ended up supporting different parts of the country in war, you knew which way the tide was flowing.

Not so clear today.  Yes we have new technology and new ways of making money.  Still, the tools of the old industries are working fine for the new guys.  It isn't that the rust belt industries such as oil, steel and cars are run using a different method than the computer or genetic engineering companies.  For the most part they are trading on the same stock markets, making campaign donations to the same politicians, and partying in the same exclusive clubs.  The techniques and traditions that allowed the old robber barons to maintain control are working just fine for the new robber barons.

Thus, there are no new elites that in order to size power over the old elites must make promises of change to the People.

I also see the Boomers as divided.  Some people are trying to make the crisis into a generational thing, with older people in conflict with younger people.  I see it as a red - blue thing, a rural - urban thing, perhaps to some extent a religious - secular thing.  There are folks on either side of all these divides in all generations, though there is a trend that the younger generations are leaning more blue.

I am more or less a Blue Boomer, but don't try to pin the Red Boomer memes on me, and don't try to say all Boomers are alike, that there is no difference.

I see the turning point as the National Malaise as declared by President Carter.  Before that time America perceived of itself as having an intense energy that could be applied to solve any problem.  The US had never lost a war.  It was presumed that we never would.  Americans would bear any burden, pay any price, support any friend, oppose any foe, and basically do anything necessary to make the world a better place and get the job done.  This was replaced by the Reagan memes.  The government is the problem, not the solution.  The default way to approach any problem with society is to cut taxes, trim regulations and privatize.  The GI's tax and spend liberalism had been taken to excess.  It was discovered that we couldn't solve any problem by throwing money at it.  The response to this discovery was to not throw any money at any problems anymore, to let the problems fester and rot.  The National Malaise was the turning point between the great energy and optimism of the New Deal through Great Society eras and the stagnation that is the unraveling.  It marked the end of a period of Democratic dominance of Congress, the start of a time where neither party could get its full agenda passed.  America stopped being blue.  While the red couldn't exactly take over all the controls cleanly, they did have their foot firmly on the breaks.

I do think we need a newer deal.  This would involve tuning the country to benefit the People more, the elites less.  One problem is that there is no new elite group that would benefit from such a transition.  Thus, the People seemingly have to kick start it going themselves without wealthy allies priming the pumps from within the hall of power.