Barack Obama

Let me preface this by stating that I easily could be writing my econ paper right now (about how government barriers in Latin America are hindering economic progress), but I am taking a moment of my time to talk to you -- the people -- about the future.

And the future is Sir Mr. President Barack Obama. Congratulations sir. The world we live in is obviously in turmoil, and whoever is going to be the next president will set the world in a new course. The Fall of the USSR ended a forty year chapter that defined how people saw the world. After the fall of the USSR, the world had not moved on yet.  The world that I grew up in was indeed a new chapter in the global history, but it was much more of a "Razr 2" then the iPhone. That is -- there had not been a paradigm shift. It hasn't happened. The way that people see the world, especially in terms of countries, and in terms of global citizenship, has remained the same as it was during the cold war. Europe and the US got along, and then there was the "rest of the world". But the internet lay the framework for the 21st century. And now we are here. As Barack comes to the office of the president, the world is facing mounting challenges, BUT, here is what I believe the paradigm shift will be -- the world will come much closer. People will become much more interconnected as a species, and less territorial over "nations".  Europe will continue to move towards a "united states of Europe", and in the US kids are taking an interest in learning a new language, traveling, and especially working abroad. 

The keys to this new world will come in two forms. The first is the economic crisis. It is obviously only a matter of time until Macroeconomics doesn't just look at one country, but has the antiderivative taken of it... and zoom out to make efficiency at the global level. In one day countries from around the world lowered their interest rates, but they did so coordinated. The cooperation of different macroeconomic policy will have a huge impact on how other countries must depend on each other. Obviously China and the US trade a lot, fine... BUT, once their economic plans start working as a team to help both countries, that is when a new level, or paradigm shift, in the connection between the two countries increases.

As a side note... I talked to several girls who are visiting from China, and I learned quite a lot. First, the Chinese are not going to change to democracy any time soon. They are a very proud people, and they (like I do) assume China will become a global superpower. If they aren't already.  They also understand things on a level which the US is seriously lacking. They tackle problems as a country, and I think this will give them a huge motor for change. For example, every person from China was absolutely thankful that the Chinese government imposed the "one child per family" policy. They believe it saved china, and I agree with them. This step is obviously impossible to imagine here in the US, yet, it saved China, is spurring their economic progress, and will ultimately be better for the world. They understand it, and their central government got it done. The US government could never think in such long term, and global terms. While the strength of democracy of course is its resistance to corruption, and ultimately hopefully will be more flexible in the long run, no one can be certain that the lack of central control will be able to solve problems that need a strong central government.

The good news about China is that not a single one of them had qualms about the restrictions of freedom of speech, or rights. They all believe that the government will continue to act in their best interest, and gradually introduce more rights as the living conditions improve. They are very convincing, and I am certain that China is moving in the right direction. We shall see.

The second challenge that the world will overcome together is climate change. The fact that air has no national borders will force countries to operate together. New economic policies regulating pollution will change the paradigm of how countries interact. 

So... This is a transformational figure, in a transformational period. Mark my words... In a decade the world will look nothing like it did in 2007, while honestly... 2007 looks quite a lot like 1997 from the view of someone who came into this world without communism, and never felt that shift from communism to 1992. 

9/11 was 7 years ago. That is crazy. 

Thanks,

Guthrie