In reading some of George Friedman’s book, “The Storm Before The Calm,” his view is that an era is coming to a close like every 50 years and we have rejuvenated at the end of prior cycles. In 1932 with the election of Franklin Roosevelt, a cycle of shifting economic resources from capital to labor began. This closed out the previous cycle of The Gilded Age where the rich dominated economic resources that became so egregious it came crashing down with the depression. The last president of this cycle was Jimmy Carter when U. S. industry had finally become non-competitive with the rest of the world. Remember when modern fuel-efficient Japanese vehicles began to flood the market replacing American vehicles that looked like army tanks.
The next 50-year cycle began in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan and the shift to capital and technology. At this point the center of gravity shifted from the industrial working class to the suburban professional class. We are at the end of this period as the Reagan era focused on maximizing available capital, and now the problem is we have an excess of money with no true investment opportunities in which to employ it. Hence it pours into existing assets, such as stocks and real estate, rather than the creation of new productive ventures.
Friedman thinks the current administration will be a continuation of the current 50-year cycle, and the real revolution will occur with the 2028 election. Regardless we are at the cusp of a dramatic change in history, and it will be fascination to watch.
