Americans
have become lazy, argues economist Tyler Cowen.
They don't
start businesses as much
as they once did. They don't move as often as they used to. And they live in
neighborhoods that are about as segregated as they were in the 1960s.
All of
this is causing the U.S. to stagnate economically and politically, Cowen says
in his new book: "The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the
American Dream." Growth is far
slower than it was in the 1960s, 70s and 80s and productivity
is way down, despite everyone claiming they are working so hard.
"Innovation
is painful. That's why we don't do more of it," Cowen, a professor of
economics at George Mason University, told CNNMoney. His book makes the case
that all of the upheaval of the 1960s and 70s caused people to strive for
safety and the status quo in the decades after that.
"Just
look at how people bring up children today. Often they won't even let children
go outside," he says.
Even
technology, the one area that has seen some innovation in recent years, has
been mostly aimed at making us want to stay home and relax.
"Tech's
great. It's fun. I've got four Amazon packages outside my door. But we have a
problem with this precisely because it's enjoyable and comfortable," he
says. "All this tech innovation encourages leisure and staying at
home."
Trump is the 'great reset'
Cowen
believes we've gone too far in trying to create perfect, insulated lives for
ourselves and our kids. Without realizing it, we've created bubble worlds that
we're afraid to change. Segregation is rampant, he argues, both by race and by
class. In the south, the percentage of black students in majority-white schools
peaked in 1988 at 43.5%. Today it's just 23.2%, a level similar to the 1960s.
Some
point fingers at the poor or the
Rust Belt as the
"complacent class," but Cowen argues just about everyone in America
is part of this class. He points to America's "traffic problems and crummy
infrastructure."
It's an
issue almost everywhere in the country, yet despite years of complaints,
massive change hasn't happened. He believes the same is true in U.S. education
with so many students still not meeting basic standards.
Even in
the high tech cities of Silicon Valley, people have shut themselves off from
other Americans who don't have the same education and income levels. It's why
so many were shocked by the election of Donald Trump.
Cowen
calls Trump's election an attempt at a "great reset." His book points
out that white males earned less in 2015 than they did in 1969, once you adjust
for inflation. He dubs it "one of the most stunning facts about
contemporary America."
"I
think those people [in the Rust Belt] are smarter than the coastal elites have
been. They actually see the problem pretty clearly," he argues.
But he
thinks Trump is going to be a big disappointment.
"I
sometimes call Trump the 'placebo president,'" Cowen says. "For all
the talk about change, so far he's shown he can't
get anything done."
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