Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Bob Jeffrey: Millennials' New Mantra: Have Less, Imagine MoreIn 1951 Time doomed the children of the Great Depression as the Silent Generation. As the New York Times' Kate Zernike put it, they were cast as "a generally drab lot: cautious and resigned, uninterested in striking out in new directions or shaping the great issues of the day--the outwardly efficient types whose inner agonies the novel Revolutionary Road would dissect a decade later."
Will today's youth suffer a similar fate? I don't think so. Unlike their counterparts in the '30s, they're reading the tea leaves through a different lens. More than a quarter of Millennials in our study said that if they lose or have trouble finding a job, they'll start their own business. And more than a third said they have friends who are doing interesting entrepreneurial things to make more money.
While youth of the Great Depression flocked to trusted organizations and institutions, valuing corporate continuity over the thrill of entrepreneurship, the pendulum appears to be swinging in the other direction. As confidence in mega-multinationals declines, youth appear prepared to venture into the uncharted. They're asking, "If this whole mess is the result of a system broken at its core, why not just reinvent it instead of trying to fix it?"
The time may be ripe for just that. In fact, downturns have been historically friendly to startups, product innovations and disruptive technologies, those that, in hindsight, have proved to be game-changing business models or breakthrough products or services. GE, HP, Trader Joe's, FedEx and Microsoft all grew out of economic adversity. Seemingly simple inventions--text ads and no-frills search--that were born from recessionary constraints became the monolith we know as Google. Necessity is the mother of invention--or in other words: Have less, imagine more.
Unlike today, when America when through the Great Depression the country was actually going through it from a position of strength. The country still had a strong currency. It was still on the Gold Standard. The country still had a trade surplus. It was a net exporter. It was a producer nation. It was a creditor nation and a huge manufacturer. Not to mention it relatively had little debt.
Contrast that to the economy today, which is practically on it's knees. The country no longer holds the Gold Standard, and currency is relatively weak against most major currencies. It's no longer a top manufacturer. The country consumes way too much. It's the biggest debtor nation in the world. You have a trade deficit with every nation on Earth. Your labor force is getting smaller and smaller while your consumer and national debt is getting bigger and bigger.
What makes this even worse is the fact that people consider going back to these reckless policies is some sort of target or standard.
The money may have been strong and backed by gold, but what good was it if too much wasn't in circulation in those days. It was scarce for ordinary people. At least that's how the old timers I listened too, talked like when I was growing up. Some of them born during the civil war.
As far as being a creditor nation, we used to hear these complaints how all these foreigners owed us money. Reagan changed all that, complaining how government was the problem while he spent us into debt.
Reagan is just a politician. Like any other president before and after him.
The money may have been strong and backed by gold, but what good was it if too much wasn't in circulation in those days. It was scarce for ordinary people. At least that's how the old timers I listened too, talked like when I was growing up. Some of them born during the civil war. Imagine what the country would be like if we hadn't been in almost continuous war and arms buildup since world war 2. So I think that the problem is greatly how the money has been spent.
As far as being a creditor nation, we used to hear these complaints how all these foreigners owed us money. Reagan changed all that, complaining how government was the problem while he spent us into debt.
The money may have been strong and backed by gold, but what good was it if too much wasn't in circulation in those days.
You are unfamiliar with money with intrinsic value... That's... not surprising.
I don't how else to say this..
fuck off
\
I don't how else to say this..
fuck off
\
You are unfamiliar with money with intrinsic value... That's... not surprising.
I don't how else to say this..
fuck off
\
What's worse, being 100% ignorant or 100% pompous, arrogant asshole?
What's worse, being 100% ignorant or 100% pompous, arrogant asshole?
I don't how else to say this..
fuck off
\
So you post a article and somehow not expect someone else to post an opposing point of view? That's really... bizarre.
You'd think no one has a life around here the way they react to opposing points of view.
You have it all wrong.
go figure
You have it all wrong.
go figure
So do you have anything coherent and of note to the discussion to talk about, or do I have that wrong too?
Considering Dante initiated the discussion and you felt an urgent need to join in...
