Boom - Bubbles and the End of Stagnation
On December 7, 1941, an unprepared United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor, crippling much of the US fleet. Less than four years later, the US deployed a new and unimaginably destructive weapon— a weapon that, just a few years before, had been considered science fiction. On May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy promised that a man would walk on the Moon by the end of the decade. In July 1969, it happened. Many who witnessed this giant leap for mankind had been born before the invention of airplanes. These two events were outliers, but suggestive ones. They represent a century during which humans routinely invented and deployed new and transformative technologies at breakneck speed. (Page 7) From where we stand today, the period from the mid19th to the mid20th century seems like a heroic age. By comparison, ours is an age of stagnation. Median wage growth has slowed, inequality and income concentration are on the rise, political polarization has intensified, rates of debt and leverage have e