The End Of Predictable Progress

Some have claimed this is where we currently reside. How true is that?

Hey. As ever, are we “cooked” or is it all overblown?

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I came to this idea by watching this video at 5am on a weekday as I got ready for work. You could argue I should have been watching a meditation video.

Most people who think about or discuss politics probably know who Ezra Klein is. His recent shtick is a book about “abundance,” which sounds good on face but is really just a nod and a wink to higher taxation. It got a lot of attention in certain media circles, but then when a socialist Democrat won a primary in my hometown, everyone stopped thinking about “abundance” and thought “Oh wait, maybe this is the future of the Democratic party…” It’s all very confusing to constantly be choosing between “This side hates everyone except rich white guys and their wife who bred them five kids” and “This side has no plan.”

Here, Ezra (first name basis) is interviewing Kyla Scanlon, who seems cool but I would honestly best classify as a “TikTok girlie” that says sensible stuff about the economy, attempts to explain it, and is young enough that older people will have her on shows to talk about “how younger people are feeling,” as if a woman who makes income from YouTube and Substack and TikTok has any clue how a 24 year-old bartender in Seattle feels.

All those caveats aside, the conversation isn’t bad and most of the front-end of the conversation is about this idea of “the end of predictable progress,” usually framed up as this question: Will your kids have a better life than you did?

Until maybe 2005–2010 region, since World War II, this answer for most Americans