Elon Musk is Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. He has a fortune estimated at $245 billion. But it’s clear he’s not happy.
America is the world’s wealthiest country. The cloud, its applications, the clients, and the services connecting to it, have made America more economically dominant than ever before. But none of that has trickled down. Even tech executives who would benefit most from the creativity of minds freed from want, have made it clear they won’t let it trickle down.
In a world where the 10th richest country, Canada, has a GDP this year of $1.6 trillion, four American Cloud Czars – Microsoft, Apple Amazon, and Google — are worth more. In a country worth $63,000 per citizen, there are children going hungry and 9 centi-billionaires. Our wealth is tied up in assets. It’s not doing any work.
One weird trick is keeping this Second Gilded Age gilded. Punching down. When Elizabeth Warren proposed taxing billionaires, they promised to avoid it, and said go after the millionaires. The millionaires then said they were also adept at tax evasion, so go after the upper middle class. The upper middle class armed itself against the middle class, the middle class against the lower middle class, and the lower middle class against the poor, whose only hope is to reproduce.
We’re all so afraid of losing what we have that we reject anything that would let us create more. In West Virginia one-quarter of the population is missing its teeth, while their Senator rejects dental care under Medicaid.
We’re sick.
Millions of us suffer from long COVID symptoms. Others are just getting old. This has helped drive the Great Resignation. There are also mental illnesses. Our health care workers all have PTSD. So do our cops. If you’re not mentally ill today you’re not paying attention.
Americans whose lives are relatively easy are being told every day, by people we trust, that someone else is to blame for our misery, and that we can only get well when the other half ceases to exist.
We’re on a path toward mass suicide. Not just in our politics, but in how we live. The Earth has a fever, we’re the cause, but like a virus we continue to do everything we can to kill our host.
As 2021 ends we’re all in a form of intensive care. There has been an economic recovery. Things are so good there that suppliers have pricing power. But even among those for whom the glass is 99% full, all we can see is that 1% that’s empty.
Like America, Elon Musk is powerful. He’s famous. He’s rich beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. But he’s unhappy.
The lesson I draw is simple. Happiness is a choice. It’s a choice that’s meant to be shared. People who need people are the luckiest people in the world. As we approach 2022, we can choose to be happy and choose to care about one another. That’s the only way out of intensive care.
