Economic systems rise and fall just like empires. That's the kind of perspective we need to take if we hope to prosper for centuries rather than for the next quarter.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.
Every day it seems more likely that we are destined - or should one say doomed? - to replay the disastrous economic history of the 1930s.
Prosperity has brought complications. Our lives are busier, faster, more stressful. They're nostalgic for a simpler, slower time.
Economies are risky. Some industries rise, and others implode, like housing. Some places get richer, and others drop, like Atlantic City. Some people get new jobs that pay better, many lose their jobs or their wages.
There is very strong historical data that suggests the way societies grow is by making large, long-term investments.
We're living through the twilight of American economic dominance.
History reminds us that dictators and despots arise during times of severe economic crisis.
Unlike economics, whose sole preoccupation in our finance-obsessed era is the near-term profit motive, history offers a way to place our tiny lifespans in a narrative that spans dozens of generations - perhaps even reaching into a future where capitalism is no longer our dominant form of economic organization.
History is fickle. We know that. The good and bad come around and go around, and go around again. There are recessions and depressions and economic boom and bust.
It's not enough to have economic growth. You have to distribute wealth throughout all of society.
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