Gen Y/ Millennial/ Hero generation cohorts are going to fuel the secular crisis and economic collapse that is being predicted as early as 2012.
Boomer Paul Farrell of MarketWatch ran a rather provocative article called Death of ‘Soul of Capitalism’: Bogle, Faber, Moore. 20 reasons America has lost its soul and collapse is inevitable Tuesday.
He asks himself: “How are you so sure about this final collapse?” The answer: “Of all the questions I have about the future, this is the easiest one to answer. Once a society becomes successful it becomes arrogant, righteous, overconfident, corrupt, and decadent … overspends … costly wars … wealth inequity and social tensions increase; and society enters a secular decline.” Success makes us our own worst enemy.
What caught me off guard just as I was about to write off the entire article as a hyped up article about something far off in the future from the fear mongering media was this ominous statement:
“”America Capitalism” is a “Lost Soul” … we’ve lost our moral compass … the coming collapse is the end of an “inevitable” historical cycle stalking all great empires to their graves. Downsize your lifestyle expectations, trust no one, not even media.
Faber is uncertain about timing, we are not. There is a high probability of a crisis and collapse by 2012. The “Great Depression 2″ is dead ahead. Unfortunately, there’s absolutely nothing you can do to hide from this unfolding reality or prevent the rush of the historical imperative. “
Though not primarily responsible for its decline, Gen Y will be directly tied into perpetuating the economic collapse American society will face in a few short years. I’ll tell you why:
As Millennials move into young adulthood during the recession we are currently experiencing, ever more are Millennials going to become more and more self aware and, in turn, learning to challenge the political failure of generations before them. Not only will Millennials learn to challenge these failures, Millennials will be vocal about it in droves.
The beginning of this was seen in the election in 2008 with the election of Barack Obama. It was our political power that radically changed the political landscape because the youth of the nation were activated and motivated to change. Gen Y challenged ideas of the reigning political party and while not solely responsible for Obama’s victory, many, because of the highly charged political climate Millennials were brought up in, may have had a hand in persuading their parents and older relatives to consider Obama’s candidacy.
The increasing levels of political alertness by Gen Y are going to be one of the major factors of how the Heroes are going to perpetuate the secular collapse Farrell describes. No longer trusting the established sociological rules for political engagement seen currently in US society, Gen Y has and will continue to question this. Given the propensity towards social networking, Gen Y talk to each other about these questions to boot and talk a lot indeed online.
Heroes tend to focus on team work and these are the areas in which we function best because this is the setting in which this generation has been taught growing up. Political hyper-activism paired with a team mentality will only encourage Millennials to continue to chip away at the mechanisms feeding the American people propaganda of an improving society. I agree with Farrell in the sentiment that “Success makes us our own worst enemy.” The United States is not the Phoenix that will spring from the ashes; our time is up. Generations before have paved the way of greed and government corruption.
When the Heroes rising become the full 81 million person power juggernaut in 2019, when the last of the Millennials turn 18, and band together for increasing civic and social reform, things will start changing in rather large ways. This will come just in the nick of time when things economically, assuming they collapse in 2012, will (hopefully) be primed for reform as everyone is ready to put the past behind them and the American public begins to pull themselves up from the bootstraps.
When constituents no longer have faith and, in turn, grant power to the established leadership of any given society, anarchy and social chaos slowly creeps in. People will be the farthest from god they will ever be in this lifetime. This is what can be expected when the Age of Kali descends.
It’ll be up to this same generation, the Millennial/ Hero generation, to institute a new found era of renewed social discipline, continue into an age of optimism as they enter mid-life and effectively live up to the name the generation holds as Heroes.
While it’s scary to feel like my generation is going to be the catalyst that will send our society over the edge of collapse, it gives me hope and optimism to know that it’ll also be my generation to rescue it.