The Coronavirus

[David Horn]

(05-02-2020, 10:42 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: I get the jest of theory. I'm not much of a book reader these days. So, I'll have to pass on reading up and getting more familiar with the works of Strauss and Howe at this point. To be honest, the anomaly that skewed the generations pretty killed the credibility of S&H theory in my opinion. The 1950's had little to no resemblance of the gilded age. The world had changed/advanced significantly. My grandmother's and grandfather's were born when the use of horses and buggies and heavy manual labor to do most everything was still common.

The 1950s were a 1T, not a 3T.  The 3T we often associate with the original Gilded Age took place late in the 19th and early in the 20th centuries.  It ended with the Crash of '29, that wiped out so many in the Gilded class, and ushered in the 4T.

Classic-Xer Wrote:I don't believe that we will return to the Gilded Age. We are far to advanced to return to the Gilded Age. We might have to part ways with  some blue  states who seem more likely to be heading that direction anyway but that's their problem. I'd say the combination of World War I, The Great Depression and World II significantly transformed most of  Europe. So, I'd say that's what it would take to significantly transform the US at this point. I'm not sure what the last question pertains to? COVID19? Yes, I believe that we will eventually get back to the way we were before the COVID19 crisis.

You can't go where you already are.  Gilded Age 2.0 may finally be ending (or not -- still TBD), but it raged on starting with the Reagan Presidency and our new confidence in the power of the markets and the private sector in general. Well, it worked great for some, OK for others, but overall, the 3T economy impoverished more than it lifted up -- a lot more.  The belief structure is starting to collapse, as people who have done the right things for decades finally realize that society doesn't have their backs.  It's already happening.  Will it go far enough to make real change?  Again: TBD.