For entertainment, I listen to a lot of podcasts. Regardless of the subject matter, current events often come up during the podcast discussions. Lately, that’s been the Covid pandemic, its effect on the world and its impact on the future.
Most of the people who discuss these events don’t know any more than you or I do about pandemics, social history, economics or world affairs. They’re just like you and me – full of uninformed opinions.
What’s been pontificated about lately is how the Covid pandemic “changes everything”. We’ve heard about:
- The Great Reset
- The Great Resignation
- The Great Pandemic
- The New World Order
- The Rise of Labor
Yada, yada, yada.
Methinks – Meh. Not so much.
I remember many other times when it was foretold that “this changes everything”:
- Gas shortages in the 1970s followed by inflation.
- Acid rain and doomsayers predicting environmental collapse.
- Killer bees.
- The Reagan recession years.
- Clinton being elected President and promising Job Corps, Universal HealthCare and Free College
- The Dot Com Boom…and Bust
- The Real Estate Boom in the early 2000s…and Bust in 2008
- Hope and Change promised by Obama (not delivered)
- Affordable HealthCare for All (not quite)
- Trump getting elected to “drain the swamp” and “fix” Washington DC (didn’t happen)
I think we’re told this story for two reasons.
The primary reason is money. Sensationalism and doom sells newspapers, draws viewers, entices clicks and captures eyeballs.
The secondary reason is this is the first time the person saying “this changes everything” has experienced and event like this.
For me personally, my lack of exposure and my dearth of historical knowledge led me to believe many events would have a greater impact than they did. Because it was the first time I had experienced something like this, I naively thought it was the first time something like this happened.
I have learned that is almost never the case. History is full of examples for us, if we look.
So my predication is that everything will return to stasis in time. We will find workers for empty jobs. Pay will not significantly increase for the common man (or woman). The people at the top will get wealthier. The people in the middle will do OK. The poor will get screwed over.
Universal healthcare in the US may never happen. If we couldn’t make it happen during a pandemic that shut down our entire world, I cannot envision it happening now.
People will return to work. Prices will stabilize. The global supply chain will get back to status quo.
Businesses that were on shaky ground will shut down. Big business will survive and crush the competition.
Schools will resume normal operations to provide mediocre eduction emphasizing compliance and obedience while, most importantly, resuming daycare services.
Cities will rebound again. After all – that’s where the jobs, entertainment, restaurants and people always migrate.
Rural areas and small towns will continue their slide into oblivion.
It all sounds kind of bleak doesn’t it?
But it’s not really. It’s a return to “normal” – the way life was before Covid.
There will be lots of great things about normal too – social activities, bustling events, contact with friends & family, plentiful goods and services.
There will be stability. There will be few protests and riots. We won’t be wearing masks. We won’t politicize everything.
People will talk about the Kardashians instead of Covid hospitalization rates. (OK, maybe that’s not a win.)
There will be funerals, weddings, parties, concerts, dates and sports.
Things always return to stasis.