Welcome back to The Professional Student, and thanks for stopping by to check out my book review! Reaching the end has been a long journey, but we are almost there.
During my last post, I left with baby boomers and a booming economy, but those were not the only things booming! The middle class was also booming, and television became the center of American homes. Families expanded, the population grew, and the need for affordable housing increased suburban growth. For many, living in the suburbs is the American Dream, as owning a home becomes a reality that gives families an opportunity for a better quality of life.
It is interesting to think about this booming time of economic prosperity and the vision of the American Dream as it has disappeared from America. It may not have disappeared, but it has become challenging to achieve. Look to France for reference on their full-time structure. We can do better.
Is it a dream if you’re a slave to corporate America and have zero time to enjoy your home in the suburbs? Is it a dream when you work yourself to death from physical and mental exhaustion? Is it a dream when you miss your children growing up? Is it a dream to dig yourself into debt to achieve higher education and receive medical care? What is the new “American Dream?” Home prices have doubled in my neighborhood since 2020. I couldn’t afford to buy another house if I had to move. That’s the reality of the American Dream, but I’ll count my blessings every day and am thankful for everything, but what about those who will never experience the American Dream? Do they get left behind to sink or swim? There must be a better way to lift everyone and make the American Dream achievable.
I’ve digressed, but I needed to say that: back to the book. Wars are not over, and following the invention of nuclear weapons, they set in motion an arms race as other nations wanted to achieve the same technology. Que The Cold War, communism, and the space race! As I’ve mentioned, a lot can come out of wars. Though The Cold War wasn’t a war in the traditional sense, it was a time of extreme tension with the looming possibility of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from 1947 through 1991 until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Other wars followed suit after World War II that I don’t entirely need to get into, such as the Korean War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and, in the near future, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). Are you seeing the trend here? America goes to war on what appears to be a regular basis, but as I’ve mentioned, wars cost money and make money. Capitalism.
In the meantime, the United States and Russia were also competing to get the first man on the moon in 1969 when Neil Armstrong stepped out to walk on the moon. Thinking about space now and Elon Musk’s Space X vision to make space travel affordable and environmentally friendly so that humans can become a multi-planetary species doesn’t seem too far off with how fast technology advances and progresses, maybe not in our lifetime, but certainly in the next.
The 60s and 70s were a wild time for civil rights and social change that focused on racial equality and justice, and I think about it. I think about all the pot smoking and LSD people were dropping. I think about everything that has happened, and here we are, 54 years into the future from 1970, and we are still struggling with racial equality and justice in America. At some point, white people will be the minority in America. The “majority-minority” point arrives around 2050 when minority groups comprise 47% of the population (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1999). Will America truly achieve racial equality and justice by that point? I hope so. I’ll be 66, and I’m looking forward to it.
America isn’t done giving birth to technology and innovation. That could be further from the truth, despite her shortfalls with the rise of Silicon Valley. The birth of the internet, Apple, Microsoft, Atari, Oracle, Adobe, Sun Microsystems, and Cisco (Morrison, 2023).
The Industrial Revolution allowed the United States to become a national economy. The rise of Silicon Valley paved the path for the current global economy. As Silicon Valley rose to fame, scandal riddled the nation with Nixon and Watergate. Following Nixon, a few more presidents got elected (Ford, Carter), but let’s talk about Ronald Reagan moving forward.
“Reaganomics” policies focused on cutting taxes, deregulation, and decreasing the role of government in the United States economy. Reagan’s thoughts? Free-market policies equate to innovation and growth. Did it work? There was an economic boom in the 80s, so in the long run, yes, and the effects of Reaganomics still shape capitalism.
The 90s were a transformative time. I learned to type when I was 6 in kindergarten. There was a computer room with old (now) floppy disk Apple computers, and the teacher would tape paper on the keyboard to cover our hands. I have many fond memories of playing The Oregon Trail! More and more homes were getting internet access thanks to dial-up AOL or America On-Line. It was slow but worth the wait, and we didn’t know better. Technology evolves continuously and gets smaller and faster. Our phones are full-blown computer desktop computers in our hands, and the price reflects as such. All these things: television, space travel, nuclear weapons, civil rights, the rise of technology, Reagan, and now Amazon, Tesla, Space X, and Apple are all names I think of to describe just how innovation and capitalism have driven the significant technological advancements in our country.
Is capitalism a double-edged sword? On the one hand, many great things have been created thanks to capitalism, but on the other, does it simply represent the interests of the top 1% while slashing down middle and lower-class citizens, furthering the wealth gap and creating more inequalities? Money must go into the economy to stimulate the economy, and that only happens if people are spending. I’ll end on that note and let you think deeply about capitalism and what it means to you.
References
Morrison, S. (2023). The story of Silicon Valley- How it began, how it boomed, and where its headed. Power and Beyond. https://www.power-and-beyond.com/the-story-of-silicon-valley-how-it-began-how-it-boomed-and-where-its-headed-a-9836fd8f0adf6d3535810e709d99fec3/#:~:text=During%20the%201970s%20and%20the,massive%20influx%20of%20venture%20capital.
Srinivasan, B. (2018). Americana: A 400-year history of American capitalism. Penguin Press.
U.S. Department of Commerce. (1999) Minority Population Growth: 1995 to 2050. Minority Business Development Agency. https://www.mbda.gov/sites/default/files/migrated/files-attachments/MinorityPopulationGrowth1995to2050.pdf
Innovative Leadership and Entrepreneurship: A Graduate Student's Perspective 