Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. I’m in the developing world, and there are a few improvements in some areas, but still, some bad trends are more generalized and also happen around here. Even some good things, like more accessible communications, come with their bad sides. To make things even more complicated, some of the progress we’re having comes at the expense of some aspects of our culture that have been giving us resilience, and it makes me fear for our future.
I know I was too vague, but to be specific, it would require to write a really, really long text.
A century ago? My city was just pasture and nothing else. But what about 20 years ago? Higher education was already free and highly accessible in here. People would jump straight from graduation to a high paying job. Nowadays, only 10% of graduated people find jobs in their area, while most are becoming uber drivers and deliverers. But hey, we can buy stuff without getting out of our houses, so this is progress, right?
But what about 20 years ago? Higher education was already free and highly accessible in here. People would jump straight from graduation to a high paying jo
If anything, it’s been the post COVID era that’s signaled a boom in employment and wages to match. The retirement of the Boomer generation has left us with a historic vacuum in the labor market.
But hey, we can buy stuff without getting out of our houses, so this is progress, right?
I mean, one of the biggest innovations of the last twenty years has been in retail logistics. That’s why Amazon is chewing through the labor pool of every American small town.
Yes, Brazil was growing in 2005. People were getting out from poverty and gaining access to a lot of things they thought were only accessible in richer places. GDP started to grow fast, unemployment was going down, etc. Basically, all economic and social indicators were moving in a good direction. In 2008 there was an iconic news with the title “We have never been so happy”, talking about those indicators and a research about perception of happiness. Things peaked somewhere in early 2010s, but then got worse, and fast, with political instability, attacks to our democracy and the pandemic pushing it even harder. Now we’re slowly trying to recover, but still too unstable.
I mean, one of the biggest innovations of the last twenty years has been in retail logistics. That’s why Amazon is chewing through the labor pool of every American small town.
You’re right, and that’s where the nuance is. I don’t know how it’s happening in the USA, but in here, those improvements are coming at the high expense of the middle and lower classes losing purchase power while seeing the cost of living going up, and people losing job opportunities. Also, those improvements often mask some things we’re losing. For example, uber availability is masking the deterioration of public transportation in many places, people doing everything from home and avoiding going out is masking the rising in criminality in the streets, etc.
I find it too complex to say that things are improving when the cost of living grows faster than people’s income, and everyone is so desperate, with a constant feeling of anxiety and tiredness, to make the ends meet.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. I’m in the developing world, and there are a few improvements in some areas, but still, some bad trends are more generalized and also happen around here. Even some good things, like more accessible communications, come with their bad sides. To make things even more complicated, some of the progress we’re having comes at the expense of some aspects of our culture that have been giving us resilience, and it makes me fear for our future.
I know I was too vague, but to be specific, it would require to write a really, really long text.
You can apply all the nuance you want, but what kind of job do you think you’d have a century ago?
Most of these careers didn’t exist even fifty years ago.
A century ago? My city was just pasture and nothing else. But what about 20 years ago? Higher education was already free and highly accessible in here. People would jump straight from graduation to a high paying job. Nowadays, only 10% of graduated people find jobs in their area, while most are becoming uber drivers and deliverers. But hey, we can buy stuff without getting out of our houses, so this is progress, right?
In 2005? During the Jobless Recovery?
If anything, it’s been the post COVID era that’s signaled a boom in employment and wages to match. The retirement of the Boomer generation has left us with a historic vacuum in the labor market.
I mean, one of the biggest innovations of the last twenty years has been in retail logistics. That’s why Amazon is chewing through the labor pool of every American small town.
Yes, Brazil was growing in 2005. People were getting out from poverty and gaining access to a lot of things they thought were only accessible in richer places. GDP started to grow fast, unemployment was going down, etc. Basically, all economic and social indicators were moving in a good direction. In 2008 there was an iconic news with the title “We have never been so happy”, talking about those indicators and a research about perception of happiness. Things peaked somewhere in early 2010s, but then got worse, and fast, with political instability, attacks to our democracy and the pandemic pushing it even harder. Now we’re slowly trying to recover, but still too unstable.
You’re right, and that’s where the nuance is. I don’t know how it’s happening in the USA, but in here, those improvements are coming at the high expense of the middle and lower classes losing purchase power while seeing the cost of living going up, and people losing job opportunities. Also, those improvements often mask some things we’re losing. For example, uber availability is masking the deterioration of public transportation in many places, people doing everything from home and avoiding going out is masking the rising in criminality in the streets, etc.
I find it too complex to say that things are improving when the cost of living grows faster than people’s income, and everyone is so desperate, with a constant feeling of anxiety and tiredness, to make the ends meet.