SUCKING in the '20s

...Here are some big-picture predictions: stagnant real wages, faltering standard of living for the lower and middle classes, worsening wealth inequality, more riots and uprisings, ongoing political polarisation, more elites competing for limited positions of power, and elites co-opting radical movements.

Thanks to globalisation, all this won’t just happen in one country but in the majority of countries in the world. We will also see geopolitical realignment, dividing the world into new alliances and blocs.

There is also a low to moderate chance of a “trigger event” – a shock like an environmental crisis, plague, or economic meltdown – that will kick off a period of extreme violence. And there is a much lower chance we will see a technological breakthrough on par with the industrial revolution that can ease the pressure in the 2020s and reverse the trends above.

These aren’t just guesses. They are predictions made with the tools of cliodynamics...

[link to www.thebigsmoke.com.au (secure)]

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WELCOME TO THE 2020s...this article was published on January 4th, just 4 days into the decade, and over two months before this COVID stuff became REAL in affecting our daily lives. Eerie how accurate it is, how quickly it all happened. Had I read this on JAN 4th, I'd have thought it was vague DOOM for down the road...amazing what difference a few months can make. And we didn't have to wait a few years for the hypothesized "trigger event." It started only 3 months in to the 2020s.

Any thoughts?