Solving the Problem in America's Current Economy

Too Long; Didn't Read

In 1930, John Maynard Keynes wrote a short, seven-page essay titled Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren. In it, he predicted that eventually, we would solve the essential “economic problem” of there being enough for everyone. His words were prescient: “I would predict that the standard of life in progressive countries one hundred years hence will be between four and eight times as high as it is today.” A 2013 article from Ezra Klein in the Washington Post examined Keynes’ predictions, noting how accurate he was in the rise of individual wealth (on a per-capita basis, when adjusted for inflation) but how he was so very wrong in how that wealth would manifest in our society. When I recently spoke with Kurt Andersen on the Success Story Podcast, author of Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History we discussed the crossroads that is facing the United States, as we approach 100 years from Keynes’ writing.