Tyler Cowen argues, in his new book The Complacent Class, that Americans are in a period of stagnation because we are doing less and less of what made us successful in the past: embracing change, moving to different parts of the country and associating with different kinds of people.
A good read. Overall, makes sense to me, though…
Though optimism is always welcome, here it’s awkward, because author, Cowen, frames it only in relative terms. That’s all good, if you want to play long view, historical, cyclical, and all that, but in the real world time frames, where people manage, and de facto, “live” their lives, in five or ten year increments of hopes and expectations, academic longview optimism is not helpful.
The upside to Cowen’s optimism, if you want to board the Good Ship Lollipop, is a less turbulent outlook for today’s newborns, and hopefully, the kids that follow them.
All I know is, right now, things suck for a lot of people, and it looks that way for a wide demographic in addition to young adults entering the mainstream. So it’s just as easy enough to make the contrary argument as well. Especially since it’s not a prediction. It’s in our faces in the present moment.
America’s ‘Complacent Class’: How Self-Segregation Is Leading To Stagnation by Heidi Glenn
Tyler Cowen, Via NPR – March 2, 2017
In a new book, The Complacent Class, economist Tyler Cowen argues the country is standing still….
http://www.npr.org/2017/03/02/517915510/americas-complacent-class-how-self-segregation-is-leading-to-stagnation?sc=17&f=1001&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app