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Good things happen. Bad things happen. That's life. Deal with it.
I don't think the potential for things to get so bad in the next 5 or 25 or 50 years is so high it is not worth having children (or in my case more grandchildren, as if I could control that). I don't see that potential as so high that I should worry myself sick about it. I do expect some rough times and some good times, certainly on the individual level and potentially on the national level. The potential for serious mischief is out there on the international level.
I don't see that a world where the two superpowers are China and India is necessarily a bad thing. Consider Britain. They have done pretty well the last few decades, even if they are no longer the most powerful nation on earth. They are still significant on the world stage and more importantly, I think, the Brits have had a pretty decent life the last few decades. I don't think that it is a given that either China or India will achieve dominant superpower status. Either or both may implode for many different reasons before they get there. If they do make it to superpower status, there is no guarantee either will be friendly or hostile to us. Life is full of uncertainties. That does not mean that life is not worth living. As far as the happiness of my descendants, I'm not sure how significant it is whether we are still a superpower or not. I think that is just a side show, although the transition could be a rough ride.
Of more concern to me as far as quality of life in this country, and probably in much of the world since the world is so tied into us economically, is how we handle our national debt. I don't think our current trends are sustainable, yet a sudden change will quite likely cause an economic collapse of our system and real changes to our way of life. I see it as something like Popeyes. Debt is fine as long as you are constantly expanding and opening up new stores. That's bringing in new income that will finance other new stores. You can hide a lot of financial weakness by that constant expansion. But when Al Copeland stopped that method of expansion and bought Church's, he lost his Popeye's empire. The debt came due and he could not pay it off. (Don't feel sorry for him. He kept his spice business and a whole lot of money.) My point is that when we stop expanding the debt and try to pay it off, we are extremely vulnerable. We can no longer finance the debt by adding more debt. In my opinion, the simplistic solution of cutting a certain percent across the board is about as unworkable a solution as there can be. That transition will have to be very carefully handled, selecting where we cut expenses and where we increase income. To me, that is a time we need a good honest national debate on how to achieve that transition, but my concern is that there will be so many people throwing out simplistic unworkable slogans that an honest debate will be impossible. Its a fine pickle weve gotten ourselves in.
Quote:
Good things happen. Bad things happen. That's life. Deal with it.
I don't think the potential for things to get so bad in the next 5 or 25 or 50 years is so high it is not worth having children (or in my case more grandchildren, as if I could control that). I don't see that potential as so high that I should worry myself sick about it. I do expect some rough times and some good times, certainly on the individual level and potentially on the national level. The potential for serious mischief is out there on the international level.
I don't see that a world where the two superpowers are China and India is necessarily a bad thing. Consider Britain. They have done pretty well the last few decades, even if they are no longer the most powerful nation on earth. They are still significant on the world stage and more importantly, I think, the Brits have had a pretty decent life the last few decades. I don't think that it is a given that either China or India will achieve dominant superpower status. Either or both may implode for many different reasons before they get there. If they do make it to superpower status, there is no guarantee either will be friendly or hostile to us. Life is full of uncertainties. That does not mean that life is not worth living. As far as the happiness of my descendants, I'm not sure how significant it is whether we are still a superpower or not. I think that is just a side show, although the transition could be a rough ride.
Of more concern to me as far as quality of life in this country, and probably in much of the world since the world is so tied into us economically, is how we handle our national debt. I don't think our current trends are sustainable, yet a sudden change will quite likely cause an economic collapse of our system and real changes to our way of life. I see it as something like Popeyes. Debt is fine as long as you are constantly expanding and opening up new stores. That's bringing in new income that will finance other new stores. You can hide a lot of financial weakness by that constant expansion. But when Al Copeland stopped that method of expansion and bought Church's, he lost his Popeye's empire. The debt came due and he could not pay it off. (Don't feel sorry for him. He kept his spice business and a whole lot of money.) My point is that when we stop expanding the debt and try to pay it off, we are extremely vulnerable. We can no longer finance the debt by adding more debt. In my opinion, the simplistic solution of cutting a certain percent across the board is about as unworkable a solution as there can be. That transition will have to be very carefully handled, selecting where we cut expenses and where we increase income. To me, that is a time we need a good honest national debate on how to achieve that transition, but my concern is that there will be so many people throwing out simplistic unworkable slogans that an honest debate will be impossible. Its a fine pickle weve gotten ourselves in.
