Larry: I am shocked. I never thought that he would be elected.

Barry: Yes, I know you really thought he would be beaten soundly.

Larry: True and I still don’t believe or really understand it.

Barry: If we think it through, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to
understand.

Larry: So what happened?

Barry: The election is a reflection of what has happened to America.

Larry: How?

Barry: The country has become divided into the Inland-Analogs
versus the Coastal-Digitals. The Inland-Analogs want the country to
be led so that what was will be and the Coastal-Digitals want to
embrace the future rather than fearing it.

Larry: You mean the Inland-Analogs are less technology aware and
favorably impacted?

Barry: Yes, they have been hurt by international progress and what
many of them did is no longer needed. The progress being made in
Asian and other countries where the labor is better educated, more
highly motivated and less costly than here means that only through
imposing costs and restrictions can our government make American
production workers attractive to employers.

Larry: Would those actions make the products produced more
expensive?

Barry: Yes and in the end it will be inflationary.

Larry: What about the public works programs of fixing our inner
cities, roads, etc., won’t that be inflationary as well?

Barry: Sure it will be but it will also be creating a lot of jobs for
construction workers and others using the skills of old.

Larry: So what about the Coastal-Digitals, who took such a loss in the
election?

Barry: By and large they are in different industries, the industries of
the future having to do with science, information, research,
communications, medicine, electronics, entertainment,
miniaturization and robotics. They tend to create and use skills
related to the products and services meeting the needs of an
increasingly digital world.

Larry: But there are great universities in the interior of America and it
was in middle of the country where industries flourished.

Barry: Yes and there still are pockets of future lookers in mid-America
but most of the people still living there are both no longer needed and
ill equipped to compete.

Larry: Why are the Coastal-Digitals better equipped?

Barry: It has to do with the fact that coastal people have always been
more sophisticated and are more frequently exposed to new people
and ideas than inland people. The people in the coastal cities were the
organizers and financiers of inland activities and the exploiters of the
natural resources.

Larry: Sure, but that was before the Internet and location is no longer
determinative of intellectual input.

Barry: Of course, you are correct but the culture of those traditionally
working the land and therefore being dependent on weather are more
likely to be idea resistant than those of coastal people who seek and
embrace change as a means of profiting.

Larry: So if the Inland-Analogs are so disadvantaged what can be
done to change the situation?

Barry: Perhaps the rebellion of the Inland-Analogs, as demonstrated
in this election, will result in massive educational programs allowing
in 10 or probably more years from now, there being an improvement.

Larry: Sorry, but that doesn’t help as the competitive workers will also
be making progress and the Coastal-Digitals will still and even more
so be focused on what’s new and important.

Barry: Well, being cynical perhaps the military-industrial complex
companies can be encouraged to produce inland. However, as it is
these companies, which so heavily influence the government, they
would likely get great benefits from creating jobs in the mid-west,
rather than where they presently are located.

Larry: So the good done re jobs would really be more a shifting than
net creating.

Barry: In the end, many of the younger and more aggressive citizens
from inland will gravitate to coastal communities and have a better life
with a better future. Agriculture is increasingly corporate and
mechanized and the needs of the country have changed.

Larry: Therefore, the people will have to change and this will take
generations. There is no quick fix possible.

Barry: Yes, and the recent election rebellion is likely to produce even
more frustration and probably social chaos. So many of the political
rebels supporting a man, not riding on a white horse, but with a
golden mane, are destined to be disappointed.

Larry: I am sure glad that we are Coastal-Digitals.

Barry: I am glad that you are glad, but the number of Inland-Analogs
is going to increase and we are all going to be adversely impacted by
the change resistors and the subsidies necessary to meet their wants
and needs.

 

Arthur Lipper, Chairman © Copyright 2016 British Far East Holdings Ltd.
British Far East Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved November 9, 2016