But This Time It's Different!

But This Time It's Different!

Read the following bullet points and take a guess at the 15 year period in our countries' history in which these events occurred. This is a great exercise to do with your clients, to help put today's challenges into perspective.

? Progressives, socialists, feminists and unions rail against predatory monopolies and corrupt politicians with evangelical fervor: using words like “ wicked and sinful”.

? Newspapers and magazines move from objective purveyors of the news to commentators who take positions. Entertainment begins to replace journalism and gossip the news.

? Tiring of the war in a region of the world, which according to the New York Times “has reverted to the condition of savage tribes”, the population turns inward.

? The American people repudiate an administration which believed that the world should be remade in America’s image, believing the president’s internationalism was a dangerous and unconstitutional departure from the warnings of the founding fathers against entangling alliances.

? A global flu pandemic causes worldwide panic.

? Following the discovery of 36 bombs disguised as packages sent to kill prominent Americans, an explosion on Wall Street followed by another at the home of the attorney general, results in a strong anti-immigrant backlash and the formation of a special anti-terrorism division within the Department of Justice (within weeks that division had compiled 200,000 names of suspected radicals).

? While Americans take pride in the country’s remarkable growth over the past century, many are convinced the old moral and spiritual values are being undermined by industrialization, standardization, globalization and a mass consumer society.

? “Urban slums produce a new and dangerous criminal class” decry major city newspapers.

? The economy is in full-scale retreat, with the purchasing power of the dollar less than half what it was five years earlier. Professional and salaried workers are worse off than at any time in the last 50 years. Many blame mass advertising and easy credit for these problems.

? Suspected radicals are held by the Department of Justice without access to counsel on a small island offshore of the United States

? The rise of mass culture (at the expense of local customs and variety) results from nationwide chain stores, standardized products, national media and newspapers and the ubiquity of Hollywood style and fashion fed through an explosion of celebrity gossip and fan magazines.

? The largest Ponzi scheme in the nation’s history robs 40,000 people of much of their life savings.

? In a hard-fought presidential campaign one of the candidates must battle charges which call into question his ethnicity and heritage.

? There is widespread fear that oil reserves are running out.

? The Department of Commerce and Treasury attempts to regulate virtually everything: from health to housing, from radio to aviation.

? A massive inflow of immigrants over the decade fundamentally alters the demography of the major metropolitan centers of the country precipitating a wholesale effort to curb foreign immigration for fear that they would steal American jobs.

? Democrats want to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans while Republicans believe this would curtail job growth and increase prices thus hurting the average American.

? Pop psychology and self-help gurus are personified by the popular phrase of the day “every day, in every way, I am getting better and better”.

? With divorce rate soaring the 3 culprits are seen as readily available contraception and an increasing number of two income households and a dramatic decline in mainline religion.

? The cult of celebrity is sweeping the nation. Fame is conferred more on notoriety than achievement and distinction.

? The number of newspapers decline by 2,000 over a 15 year period.


While this may all sound very familiar...unless you were alive between

1915-1930...it isn’t.

All from the book: "New World Coming" by Nathan Miller"

There's an old saying that, "history may not repeat itself, but it sure echoes ". Today we fear the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, well yesterday we feared the assembly line for the same reasons.

Brian Austin, CIMA?

Legacy and Asset Strategies Manager - Compassion International - Helping to Release Children from Poverty in Jesus' Name

1 年

History doesn't repeat itself, but man does - paraphrase from Volatire

Ron Johnson, MBA

Senior Vice President, Family Wealth Advisor, Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley

1 年

A great reminder there is noise and then there is signal.

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