It was hard to imagine a year ago what the world would look like in 2021. I remember thinking just how crazy this whole thing was as we all collectively tried our best to move forward into the great pandemic unknown. As it turns out, even at this point the world would be far from any sort of normal recovery, and it has become stranger and stranger still as the months passed by in quarantine. What was once a time dominated by panic and fear has now become one of fatigue, memes and giant bubbles everywhere.
I suppose we can start with the slow inevitable death of money as we know it. Blockchain used to be a buzzword once upon a time, but now it is everywhere and everything. Bitcoin sits at a totally reasonable $74,515.65 CAD at the time of this writing. Cryptocurrency has become a legitimate form of commerce (thank you Mr. Musk, as always), and it has birthed some very strange subcultures as people begin to lose faith in the almighty dollar. The Central Bank took note of main street outrage back in 2009 and decided the best course of action to stop a global economic collapse was to instead bailout every single person in North America. If anyone wanted to see what Basic Income looks like, this is it (minus the sustainability issue of it all of course, but who needs that really). While the bailout of banks and corporations in 2009 widened the wealth gap to ludicrous levels, what happens when free money is showered onto the masses to the tune of trillions upon trillions of dollars of QE? My guess is that everything becomes a lot more expensive, and we are about to find out just how much. The inflation boogeyman is back, and he is getting ready to run amok. Apparently, increasing the money supply infinitely has consequences.
But what do we (the people) do with all this free money? Throw it into meme stonks and nifties (non-fungible tokens) of course. The next-gen artistic renaissance is here where one can buy an original piece of digital Beeple art for tens of millions of dollars or a Lebron James gif for a meagre $200,000. If this doesn't seem like a good place to put your not-earned cash then maybe you can head on over to the stonk market and try your hand at Gamestop, Blackberry or AMC Theatres. Don’t worry about fundamentals. They’re for dinosaurs and elitist scum.
A bubble you say? Impossible. Stonks only go up. Real estate too by the way. Better do something with your monies lest the FOMO get you.
As Mr. Trump graciously stepped down as POTUS, the world he left behind has changed forever. President Biden is now steering the ship, and hes trying his darndest not to run it into the bank and get it stuck embarrassingly sideways for days blocking all other marine traffic in the canal.
So much is changing all at once, and I don't know if its because of pandemic fatigue or if things have always been so strange. Perhaps I was never really paying attention before, but I wonder when our children will ever get to know a world filled with handshakes from strangers and hugs from friends and family who haven't quarantined — and nobody cares whether they have or not. Maybe its still too early to say how effective the vaccines will be, or whether this is it. Maybe the next generation of illnesses and anti-biotic resistant germs are here and with the Earth getting warmer each passing year, perhaps the fall of Rome is all but an inevitability at this point. There certainly is no shortage of scientists ringing alarm bells regarding the state of our fragile climate. Whatever comes to pass, I think its clear that nobody really knows whats going to happen next.
A year ago I mentioned that it was reasonably difficult to be optimistic, and that still remains true. But I am hopeful regardless. In spite of the state of the world today, to me it seems that humanity is collectively waking up and shedding the blinders that have kept them from the truths that have enslaved this world for centuries. Yes, there is and will always be greed that dominates capitalism in times of great fear, but there is still good being done by those trying to move humanity out of these dark times, and no matter how dark the night, the dawn will come inevitably to bring forth the light.
I am hopeful, and I know better days are ahead. We just need to work together and be kinder to one another, because the time when hate ruled the day is over. For now, there is a lot of healing to be done, and patience is still a virtue (last time I checked, anyways).
Here’s to better days to come.
