What's going on?

What is happening? Does anyone know? I get the feeling no one knows. We are confused. This is why we voted for change. Anything, just anything different from what goes on. The volatility of the markets confirms it.

Nobel Prize winners. Think tanks. We have the smartest brains in the world. Have we learned anything? Are we learning? What’s the relevancy of winning a Nobel Prize? Where were they when we created the problems? Now we want to give everything to everybody. Even if we cannot afford it. Is it feasible? Why not. But do we generate the wealth we want to distribute? We cannot tax ourselves to wealth. Something has to give.

The USSR collapsed. The US and the world are imploding because of gross policy mistakes. The vision was free markets. The reality was wealth re-distribution. We continuously seem to strive for solutions to ancient problems. The only thing we hear is change. Will we find what scientists call the steady state? We fluctuate endlessly trying to find the Aristotelian golden mean.

Do we need Plato’s philosopher-king, who recognizes and understands the needs of a country? Without squandering pork to interest groups? Leadership is groomed, not elected. This is the main theme of the major world thinkers. Nietzsche thought average people vote for average leaders. Do we have average people in Washington? Given the results, it looks that way.

We tend to solve yesterday’s problems. Are we getting into new ones? Are we going to get wealthier? Poorer? Safer? What do we want? Do we need “to want” anything and everything? The American dream.

Ideas are not set in stone. What seems right today is wrong tomorrow. Therefore, the world painfully and tragically strives to find the next great idea only to face new dire consequences. Heraclitus was right. We live in a state of flux and the only truth is that by seeking change we give ourselves a drug. It gives us an illusion. But eventually the markets always win. Always and everywhere. Make no mistake about it.

More, much more when you read older posts and subscribe to The Peter Dag Portfolio by going to https://www.peterdag.com/.

George Dagnino, PhD
Editor, The Peter Dag Portfolio
Since 1977