The Future

No one has a master plan for what happens next.  Now some people have plans and companies and even political parties, but as far as the overall future is concerned we as a whole don't have a plan.

This is in large part because the people of the world can't agree.

People actually do agree on the vast majority of things.  Pretty much everybody wants to be safe and secure but while we all want that we don't all agree about what that constitutes.

Its also a bit of a question about the haves and the have-nots.

You can find people living is pretty squalid conditions in certain Asian countries who consider themselves fortunate if they manage to have a little bit of food stored up and who have to spend every day struggling to find more.

You can find American driving "old" cars, behind on their mortgage working a not so desirable job who feel they are miserable victims.

Part of this is what you were taught growing up.

The developed countries of the world have achieved a standard of living that is remarkable in many respects considering where the rest of the world is.  This was largely the result of the industrial revolution and progress that provided a plentiful supply of goods to be consumed.

We talk a lot in this country about how wealth inequality has grown.  More and more wealth is controlled by fewer and fewer people.  However, on the world stage we are starting to see previously poor countries getting a slightly bigger share of the pie.

Now the pie isn't fixed but there is certainly a problem if the wealthy are taking more of it and the poor countries are also getting a bigger share.  Certain people are going to feel squeezed.

Now nothing guarantees anyone a certain standard of living and it is the best interest of the wealthy to keep most of us struggling to make ends meet, it makes us more willing to abide by their rules to survive and get some rewards.

The really poor people of this country and the world just want a little bit of that for themselves, but they are painted as the problem.

Because they are willing to work for wages we wouldn't even consider in order to feed their families and maybe have a slightly better life. 

How dare they!