Every liberal elitist like myself, should have a wonderful, conservative Republican friend like my friend, Bob. It helps to keep me grounded. The following post is an email Bob sent to me:
I'm dreadfully worried about the real possibility of a time of deflation. No matter how good the government is at dissembling and obfuscation, the truth will out. The signs are all there and unless there has been a "Jim Jones"-like drinking of the waters of the River Teethe, our leaders must, surely remember what led to the Great Depression.
Impossible, they say. Too many safeguards.
The truth of the matter is that, no, we are not a nation in transition from an agrarian society to a manufacturing one as we were in 1929; however, we are in a dramatic transition from a manufacturing society to an information-based society. All change exposes our underbelly and so makes us vulnerable to mortal wounding. This is our situation today.
The sea change underway is riddled with underwater challenges that make the journey difficult to navigate and treacherous -- possibly fatal to a nation that sets sail on these challenging waters with no navigational guides. The acceptance of a global marketplace is the only chart available that can be followed. Absent our embracing of this Absolute, deflation and continued degradation of our financial system are certain. I'm so worried about this possibility that I usually don't even discuss it, lest it become, somehow, self-fulfilling.
One cannot pick up a factory and move it easily from one place to another to take advantage of a more favorable business environment. Static brick and mortar edifices are so "yesterday." Today, a person sitting at her computer while on vacation in Puerto Rico can order raw material from Africa, have it sent to China for manufacturing, hire a phone marketing firm in the Philippines to sell the product and contract with Fed Ex to warehouse the product and to provide third party logistics to ship it anywhere in the world. One never needs to see or touch one's product! All that is required is a five hundred dollar laptop.
This is the new paradigm. The whole world is in play. This IS our world today. Many mistakes will be made and hopefully we will learn from them. The waters will roil as they strike unforeseen and hidden obstacles. Such is the way of change. The miracle is that we will survive and thrive. I know this to be true.
I'm dreadfully worried about the real possibility of a time of deflation. No matter how good the government is at dissembling and obfuscation, the truth will out. The signs are all there and unless there has been a "Jim Jones"-like drinking of the waters of the River Teethe, our leaders must, surely remember what led to the Great Depression.
Impossible, they say. Too many safeguards.
The truth of the matter is that, no, we are not a nation in transition from an agrarian society to a manufacturing one as we were in 1929; however, we are in a dramatic transition from a manufacturing society to an information-based society. All change exposes our underbelly and so makes us vulnerable to mortal wounding. This is our situation today.
The sea change underway is riddled with underwater challenges that make the journey difficult to navigate and treacherous -- possibly fatal to a nation that sets sail on these challenging waters with no navigational guides. The acceptance of a global marketplace is the only chart available that can be followed. Absent our embracing of this Absolute, deflation and continued degradation of our financial system are certain. I'm so worried about this possibility that I usually don't even discuss it, lest it become, somehow, self-fulfilling.
One cannot pick up a factory and move it easily from one place to another to take advantage of a more favorable business environment. Static brick and mortar edifices are so "yesterday." Today, a person sitting at her computer while on vacation in Puerto Rico can order raw material from Africa, have it sent to China for manufacturing, hire a phone marketing firm in the Philippines to sell the product and contract with Fed Ex to warehouse the product and to provide third party logistics to ship it anywhere in the world. One never needs to see or touch one's product! All that is required is a five hundred dollar laptop.
This is the new paradigm. The whole world is in play. This IS our world today. Many mistakes will be made and hopefully we will learn from them. The waters will roil as they strike unforeseen and hidden obstacles. Such is the way of change. The miracle is that we will survive and thrive. I know this to be true.
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