A new age for capitalism
Grappling with the unfolding era
For more than two years, mainstream U.S. and European political leaders have experienced one long bout of “if onlys” — if only they had done this or that, Brexit and President Trump might not have slipped by.
-But, gathered at Davos last week, members of the global elite told us that even if Brexit were overturned in a second referendum and Trump were defeated in 2020 — real possibilities — almost nothing would change in the big picture.
-The political and economic order would continue to unravel, and a new, as-yet unknown age would continue to gestate and take shape.
-“You would have people angry about the losses and thinking that the elections are illegitimate. You would get potentially very divided politics going forward,” said Christopher Eisgruber, president of Princeton University.
Brexit and Trump’s election are symptoms of the shift to a new world order, as discussed in the video above. By comparison with past such transformations, this one is happening at lightning speed, we were told. The reason is technology, whose advances are core in this dramatic shift.
- Digitalization is speeding upeverything, making us woozy and, often, unnerved.
- That sensation underlies much of the angst felt in communities across the advanced economies, along with the political turbulence that flows from it.
- Think of this: The American shift from an agrarian to an industrial society a century ago was hugely jarring, but occurred over 100 years or more. “The difference today is we’re doing it over 10 years, 15 years, 20 years,” said Brian Gallagher, CEO of United Way Worldwide. He went on:
“The speed at which this change is happening is blowing people’s minds. And the leaders — political leaders, business leaders — are having a hard time getting their heads wrapped around it.”
Go deeper:
- Special report: A new — unknown — world
- Hard times: Dems, GOP wrestle for the same, winning constituency
• 1 big video: A new age for capitalism
As we reported last Saturday from Davos, Switzerland, the liberal world order and status quo capitalism are both dead, and a new age is unfolding. Axios’ Eli Sinkus, Jimmy Shelton and Megan Foley dove into the economic challenge posed by this epochal shift.
Have a watch.
• Is global capitalism broken?
We set out for Davos last week planning to probe a vital question in our conversations with business leaders and experts: Why is so much of society being left behind, and what should we do about it?
My brilliant Axios video colleagues Eli Sinkus, Jimmy Shelton and Megan Foley documented that journey.
Behind the scenes: There’s been a lot of debate about whether the annual gathering of the rich and powerful in the Swiss Alps is good or bad for the world. I don’t know the answer. What I do know is it gave me the opportunity for a number of really fascinating conversations.
A few snippets from my notebook:
-Ben Pring, director of the Center for the Future of Work at Cognizant, on the mood at Davos: “The paradigm is shifting. … If you tried to make a case for winner-takes-all, trickle down economics here this week, you wouldn’t get much of a hearing,”
-Brian Gallagher, CEO of United Way: “This year, what’s interesting is you hear business leaders … understand that they may have to slow down the integration of the global economy in order to let the rest of society catch up. That’s the first time I’ve heard it here.”
-Historian Adam Tooze told us that in order to fix systemic inequality, America could (and should) take on criminal justice reform, raise tax rates on the wealthy, reform education and enforce anti-trust policy. But “if one did all this, you would still only be France,” home of the Yellow Vests.
-Christopher Eisgruber, president of Princeton University: “We’ve broken the social compact. … At some point, people decided they didn’t want to pay to educate other people’s kids.”
Go deeper: Read our Davos Deep Dive.
Πηγή: axios.com
