PatsFanInVa

Envision America, New Year's Day, 2062 - 50 years and some days from now.

What do you hope it looks like, for all Americans, and specifically for your children and your grandchildren (and the older "you"?)

What should be working together to build?

We're all Americans. We all have heard "Oh grumble grumble, America is all over now, it was a good thing but now it's all fu(ked up."

What's the end state we want in 2062? How do we get there?

America's not "over." There will be an America in 2062, and I daresay it'll even be an America still going by the name "United States of America." What should it be? How should it treat people? What systems should be in place?

PFnV

Patsfanin Philly

Without trying to hijack the thread, I decided to look backwards to 1962, fifty years ago to see how far we have come in the last fifty before looking ahead.....

1962
Beatles release first album
US imposes embargo against CUBA
John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth
JFK vows to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade..
the first MLB game is played at Dodger Stadium.
Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin, with apparent success, escape from the Alcatraz Island prison. There is evidence that they survived the attempt.
Engel v. Vitale: The United States Supreme Court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
Andy Warhol premieres his Campbell's Soup Cans exhibit in Los Angeles.
Rolling Stones make their debut..
Marilyn Monroe dies from either suicide or murder depending on your perspective.
The first black student, James Meredith, registers at the University of Mississippi, escorted by Federal Marshals.
Cuban Missile Crisis brings world to the brink of nuclear war.
November 7 – Richard M. Nixon loses the California governor's race. In his concession speech, he states that this is his "last press conference" and that "you don't have Nixon to kick around any more".

After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to make a non-optimistic public comment on the war's progress.
Crcik and Watson win the Nobel Prize for deciphering the double helix of DNA.
The first transatlantic television transmission occurs via the Telstar Satellite, making worldwide television and cable networks a reality.

Movies released include, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. No
Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring, and the environmental movement is born.
Ken Kesey publishes One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest


Cost of Living 1962
How Much things cost in 1962
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.20%
Yearly Inflation Rate UK 3.6%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 652
Average Cost of new house $12,500.00
Average Income per year $5,556.00
Average monthly rent $110.00 per month
Tuition to Harvard University $1,520.00
All Wheel Drive Scout off road $2,150.00
Renault Imported car $1,395.00
Average Cost of a new car $3,125.00
Eggs per dozen 32 cents
Gas per Gallon 28 cents

From Wikipedia, infoplease.com and thepeoplehisotry.com

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Um, Mr. Brady, can we line up?

Harry Boy

Don't let your guard down, teach the children (discipline, respect, right from wrong) don't give up on God but keep him out of government, don't completely do away with marriage, children need a happy home with a mother and a father just like most other living things do, don't go overboard with the "welcome to america stuff" times are changing todays immigrants aren't like the ones that came through Ellis Island, PROTECT AMERICA AT ALL COSTS OR THERE WILL BE NO AMERICA.

America will be fine in fifty years, common sense is all that is needed.

PS
Don't get rid of Christmas, kids love it.

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

wistahpatsfan

Fusion power is common. Only use of fossil fuels is antique cars. US exports fusion tech to every country. The former Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is now an abandoned wasteland. Because there is no more need for energy, the US military is drawn down to a defensive force. Major league baseball is global and Shanghai Sharks wins the World Series over the Brisbane Wallabies. Red Sox fans are stunned that their team collapses in September and brings back memories of the 2011 team.

The Union of North America is finally accepted as the last rebel stronghold in Western Texas is placated with promises of free Brawndo, The Thirst Mutilator and the realization that West Texas is no longer worth fighting for. New England finalizes their admission into the UNA after a lengthy holdout following the demand that no one ever again pronounce the word nuclear as "nucular".

The cleanup and rebuilding of St. Louis, Kansas City, and Memphis is in full swing after the destruction of those cities from the 9.0 New Madrid Quake of 2059.

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PatriotsReign

Aren't we all supposed to be preparing for December 2012 and "End times"?

How can you be so insensitive?

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"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

DarrylS

The chances of me seeing 2062 are slim and less than none..

If we look at the past 100 years... go back to 1912, and all the stuff that happened between that time and 1962; continued advancement of the industrial age, the common use of the car, increased oil production/consumption, World War 1, World War II, the Atomic Age, the depression, the housing booms, the explosion of universities & colleges, the different role for women on and on..

Then go to the post by PatsFaninPhilly.. it becomes really significant, if you fill in all of the changes since then..

Very difficult to envision what it will look like.. but have faith in our system, and somehow it will prevail and probably still be devisive, but strong.

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Real World

Think about that. The average salary was roughly 45% of the cost of the average home. Inflation, prior to when they adjusted the calculation 20 some odd times to account for the value of eating an ipad, was 1.4%. People made almost twice as much as the value of the avg car. Are we better off now, than we were then?

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

PatsFanInVa

Thanks guys for the responses.

PFiP, thanks for the retrospective. One thing I've seen as an on-and-off constant in American history is the improvement in standard of living, especially how we treat our most vulnerable. The general trendline is upward, with big downturns along the way.

Another general historical U.S. "megatrend" is that of inclusiveness.

Looking back from 2061, we'll be looking backward at the world the millennials leave behind for their children and grandchildren, after we leave them a world.

They're the most diverse generation in U.S. history. Think back to 1961, and think how far we've come in terms of race, gender, and sexual preference. I think these divisive points will be much less potent in 2061 than today.

People will be constantly connected, and I think privacy will be a thing of the past. This too is a continuation of a present-day trend. I think gradually even American politics will stop being concerned with who's sleeping with whom.

Marriage will be defined by who you love and are committed to; this one is already a done deal, and we're just waiting for the end game. I think by 2061 the Conservatives, if they still call themselves that, will be taking credit for gay rights just as Glenn Beck took credit for the earlier (racial) civil rights movement.

We will be materially better off than we are today. Think of a comparison of 1911 to 1961, or 1961 to today.

Todays battles over the entitlements (medicare, social security) and pensions will be either the blueprint for how a permanent mutually responsible society behaves... or it will be the big mistake they are set on not repeating. The aging of the baby boomers will, in retrospect, be the blueprint (negative or positive) for what will happen to the millennials.

After the retired boomers have been digested by the system, and as they die off, the realization will dawn that precisely the opposite of our present night-sweats pertains. There will be an enormous generation of millennials hitting their peak earning years, just as the oldest Gen Xers begin retiring. Suddenly instead of the Gen X lament that there are too many being supported by too few, we will rapidly move toward an easier support system where a generation takes care of one that is half its size (millennials vs. Gen X).

The end of life will once again be treated as a time when we take responsibility for one another; if our present system survives the Gen X/Boomer imbalance, it will be regarded as a permanent system that has weathered its first such crisis, and can be expected to periodically weather such crises. The question becomes not which generation is larger, but how do we safeguard our way of life against future shocks to the system with the same origin.

Militarily, as others have suggested with different descriptions, the U.S. becomes one of a number of "great powers" but never again ascends to its present hegemonic military status. This is the path the U.S.S.R. could not sustain, Britain could not sustain, and no other power could sustain.

Economically, China and perhaps India will have matured as markets; By 2061 they will join with the U.S. and Europe in calls for international labor standards (no prison labor, no child labor, set-length work-weeks, etc.) These have the effect of slowing the export of jobs to cheapest available labor pools. The U.S. standard of living, though better than in 2011, will continue to be less conspicuously beyond what the rest of the world enjoys.

Food and water wars are common. The renewable energy solution that's emerged by 2061 will have pulled ahead of our present oil economy.

I'm sure there is more.

PFnV

PatriotsReign

Today, the average income is around $55k vs. the average home price of $225k or ~25% of the value of a home. The big difference is that most household's need 2 incomes to purchase a home.

Average income of $55k vs. $25k as the weighted average price of all automobiles sold. So that's about the same as it was in the 60's.

The net/net affect is that disposeable income as a percent of income today is less than it was 50 years ago.

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"No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"

mcgraw_wv

Since no one can predict what we need to be working towards, and how the best way to get there is. We should slowly start to implement free market principles which, in the case of major changes in history like the invention of the semi conductor, we can through the free market turn that into a major revenue and job creation industry for us.

Again, all we have to do, is ensure the system we are creating encourages investment, freedom, and consequences. If we do that, then no matter what the future brings, we will be able to adapt to whatever may come.