When Will The Recovery Begin? Never. | Robert Reich's Blog. I think it's the latter. The old economy is dead and it "ain't never coming back." Why? Because the consumer is broke, and becoming more broke everyday, globally. We are not in Kansas anymore folks. I have often said that we are going to have to innovate our way out of this mess, and I mean really innovate!
So we have a new economy under going a painful birth. It will likely have a messy childhood and a turbulent adolescence. What else is new? More separation everywhere between those that have and those that don't. More political unrest. It is time to face the music, the path we were on was completely unsustainable.
Simplistic ideas are not going work and even the best ideas are going to challenge our collective courage, political and otherwise. There is not an industry that won't be turned upside down. This inflection point will make the change that occurred during the industrial revolution look like child's play, consider:
- The old newpaper industry gone
- The old music industry gone
- The health care industry collapsing under its own weight
- The financial system barely breathing
And the fun hasn't started yet. I am an optimistic, we are going to end up in a better place. The future of our children and our grandchildren depend on it. A new vibrant economy will rise from these ashes. But don't expect it to happen anytime soon. The arc of the moral universe bends toward just outcomes. We just need to get up every morning and decide what role we want to play in this unfolding drama.
In the words of Joni Mitchell:
We are stardust, we are golden
We are million year old carbon
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden
Can't you hear that guitar riff wailing?