Ode to the 2010s

It has been hard to sit down and focus and write about politics, culture, and society, but as we leave this decade, I feel it necessary to put out a message.

This decade started out on a sour note when it comes to economics. In 2010, we weren't yet really out of the Great Recession caused by the Economic crisis of 2008. In 2010, the National Unemployment (U-3) Rate was 9.6%. North Carolina's Unemployment rate was 11.4%, which was the worst we would see from the recession. 10 years later, we currently have a North Carolina Unemployment rate of 3.8%.

In Catawba County, back in 2010, it was about as bad as it could get. The unemployment rate was 14.9% and today it is 3.3%. We started out 2010 worse than the National Average and today we are better than the national average.

Does this tell the whole story. I don't believe that it really does. I don't think the issues that led to the 2008 Economic Crisis have truly been addressed, so we could find ourselves back in that mess again. The problem is that that isn't an economic issue as much as it is a social-cultural-political issue.

North Carolina's Legislature has been doing an excellent job of tightening its belt, while focusing on  endeavors that make the State more hospitable towards business than it was a decade ago. This isn't going to make people whose life focuses predominantly on social and cultural issues happy, but what they never seem to understand is that quality of life in our Monetized Society correlates completely with the Velocity of the economy. When the economy slows down, then those with little wealth will suffer the most. And even in Socialist Utopia, a slow economy means that those with lesser socio-economic circumstances will be the ones who suffer the most. It will just be more of them.

I think back to a decade ago. We were in the midst of the Obama administration pushing through Healthcare Reform. What is the focus of the current crop of Democrat Presidential candidates? The same garbage they were peddling and focusing on 10 years ago. They didn't solve anything and in many ways they made it worse. Healthcare costs continue to rise faster than wages. This article on The Middle Class Risks Consuming Itself says that the American Economy has become more and more dependent on Healthcare Services and its growth while the costs continue to become less affordable. In other words, the current model isn't sustainable.

2019 marks eighteen years since the event at the World Trade Center in New York. Subsequently, the United States went into Iraq and Afghanistan. President Bush 43 quickly claimed victory, but we are still involved in Afghanistan. This is the longest conflict in our nation's history.

From my personal experience and in my opinion, the Internet is a lot less freer today than it was 10 years ago. I think much of it has to do with "Smart" phones. The smart phone platform is dominating the computer technology market and it has become more and more monetized through Apps and Services. Personally, I have never been enamored with cell phones. I find them to be too tethered. While their size and purpose (portability) leads to independence of movement/travel, there is a lack of adaptability due to the dependence on the monetized apps that make them work and drives up their cost of usage.

When it comes to the Internet, one can't help but notice the controls that the Corporatocracy has placed on it. Yes, some of it is related to monetization of information by the Corporate Media, but you can taste the censorship, controlled content and narratives, and outright biases of the Leftist leaning Big Tech cronies out of Silicon Valley. I suspect that this is only going to get worse, because most of the public might use tech, but most of them don't understand it. They just want it convenient and user friendly. They could care less how it works.

The Big Tech big picture is that the companies who integrate these convenience based technologies are going to control more and more of your life experiences than they already currently do. They are going to push market you into buying their products or the products they approve of. The further you enter this Matrix, the harder it will become to extricate yourself from it. Most of you won't even care, because "It's Cool." You are putting your faith into the idea that you can trust these companies to have your best interest at heart. Are you ready for driverless cars and robot assistants and caregivers?

It might not seem like we have come all that far over the past decade, but were you really paying attention? I wonder what the advent of 5G technology is going to bring over the next few years. It is probably going to revolutionize the platform on which Information Technology is delivered and kick that Matrix I previously mentioned into another dimension.

These Are The Technologies That Will Transform The 2020s - From 5G To Vertical Farming - Forbes - Mike Scott - December 9, 2019