A Troubled Economy

For me, the most dramatic thing in our current ‘coronavirus political economy’ is how troubled we seem to be as a society.

There are a number of factors:

1. It is a VERY contagious virus….so good reason to curtail activities outside the home.
2. To curtail activities outside the home is hugely traumatic for our political economy.
3. Local communities are extremely dependent on global logistics.
4. Our economy is financially dominated by large corporations that depend on global logistics, cheap labor, and local residents going about purchasing their goods.
5. The stability of financial markets depends on trust in large corporations. If investors no longer financially trust the corporations they are going to flee the market.
6. Once investors begin to flee the markets all of the derivative financial instruments become suspect – even the derivative markets meant to protect certain industry segments (commodity futures, for example).

Add to that list:

1. We have grown much more secular as a society; therefore our basis for faith and trust is now much more material.
2. Our national government has grown extremely superficial and unable to collaborate on important issues.
3. Our heroic figures are predominantly athletes…along with some media and film personalities.

All of those items are good reason to be troubled.

I would hope that we become more clearheaded on an economy that is locally sustainable while marketing local surplus.