History repeats itself

I usually talk about technology on this Blog, but today I'm going to the Economy but it has direct links to technology. The second world war had its start in the financial crash of the late twenties. The Nazi party grew out of the destruction of the German economy in the great depression. A lot of angry people and some terrible people (Nazis) who used it to blame the rich aka the Jewish population in Germany. They were a false target since many rich Germans were not Jewish and many Jewish Europeans were very poor.

America did a much better way of handling the thirties through huge social projects. This gave its population a chance to vent its anger with a job and a way forward. Britain too had social programs. We saw the formation of Unions to balance the power of Gilded Age super barons.

We are now in the biggest recession since the thirties and we are seeing some of the same tensions in Europe and the United States. The problems in Greece are similar to Germany in the thirties. There are some very different causes this time round though key similarity is that there is rising disparity between the super rich and the middle class. Financial obligations that people are refusing to withstand.

Unions are ineffective in a Globalized economy and they have hurt themselves with unrealistic work practices and demands on business in global market. Unions are pretty much regulated to service and public sector industries that are not subject to globalization (though we are seeing outsourcing).

We are seeing some of the same tensions between the super rich and a middle class that is seeing economic erosion of wages. Financial Companies and Conservatives have budded up with religion to control a large portion of the US heart land minds and wills. Built huge propaganda machines (Fox News and talk radio) to push their agenda.

In Europe they have a different problem in they've created huge social support benefits that they cannot afford. As the money dries up the coffers of European government the social programs will suffer. A large group who have become dependent upon government benefits will riot as they have in Greece as those funds disappear.

At the heart of these problems is globalization and the erosion of the middle class. But rather than meet at the middle we see politicians using class warfare on both side to further divide the populous. It may seem easier for politicians to blame somebody else than to address the true problems.

We discourage our politicians from making hard decisions because elections are less about performance but rather than getting elected through money (pathetic attack advertisements). The problem is that if we don't address the issues at the center of the problem and deffer from class warfare to a joint solution. The problems will mount and more people will get hurt.

So what technology got to do with this, in many ways it the cause, globalization has its heart in technology, companies can downsize because of increased automation. But technology can also be the solution through the exchange of information, more efficient food distribution and information/knowledge sharing.