BY DANNY DE GRACIA II AND CASSIE ANN SUMIMOTO – Seventy-one years ago, the British statesman Austen Chamberlain once remarked how one of his diplomats in China explained that one of the principal Chinese curses he observed was “May you live in an interesting age.” Today, the children of the twentieth century have inherited a twenty first century in which upheaval has brought in months and sometimes even days troubling changes that in the past took centuries to effect.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the chaotic period we live in is the cancer-like financial instability of the Western governments and their impacts on our local, national and global economies. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced at this week’s ECB Central Banking conference in Frankfurt that “output in the advanced economies has not returned to the levels prevailing before the crisis and real GDP in these economies remains far below the levels implied by pre-crisis trends.”
He went on to warn that the “U.S. unemployment rate has stagnated for about eighteen months near ten percent of the labor force, up from about 5 percent before the crisis; the increase of 5 percentage points in the U.S. unemployment rate is roughly double that seen in the euro area, the United Kingdom, Japan or Canada. Of some 8.4 million U.S. jobs lost between the peak of the expansion and the end of 2009, only about 900,000 have been restored thus far.”
This week, all eyes are on Ireland as it may be forced to take a bailout to avert sovereign default and may trigger a financial domino effect which could eventually lead to the destruction of both the Euro and the European Union. With Portugal, Italy, Spain and possibly even the United Kingdom – whose banks in particular hold £140 billion in exposure to Ireland – next in line to fall, the implications for our global future are both frustrating and terrifying.
In the short term, a bailout of Ireland will lead to upward price pressure on commodities which will create effects that will be palpably felt as far away as Hawaii. In the long term, the future is one that appears to be headed for an extreme disproportionalism between rich and poor in Western economies and the transformation of once derided economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (or the “BRICs economies”) into global financial superpowers.
As early as 2003 and long before the collapse of America’s financial system, Goldman Sachs analysts forecasted that by 2027 the combined GDP of BRICs would slightly exceed parity with America’s GDP – $19.9 trillion to $19.2 trillion – and by 2050 the gap would be as much as $84.2 trillion to $35.1 trillion. In 2004, the U.S. National Intelligence Council’s unclassified “Mapping The Global Future” likewise determined that emerging economies were set to outpace Europe and eventually the United States. In the seven and six years since those reports came out, the ongoing American crisis and the Eurocrisis reveal to us that it may not take decades but mere years before our once great financial reign gives way to those who saved, sacrificed and produced while we consumed and wasted.
While we are glad for “the last who are about become first” the outlook for the United States and especially Hawaii compels the two of us to ask: what happened to the great future we were all promised?
Unforgettable is the image of President Ronald Reagan, standing in 1984 in front of the White House proclaiming, “The kind of future our young people will have is something you never forget when you live here. Their security, job opportunities and the dreams they’ll take into the next century all begin with what we do today.” Every city council, mayor, governor, state legislature, president and Congress since both of our births has all in turn said that their highest aspiration was to give us a world to inherit that was better than their own. Instead, we see a world marked by instability, confusion and challenges that push us to extreme requirements just to make ends meet, let alone accomplish and achieve our highest dreams.
Today’s emerging young people – the Generation Ys and the latter ends of Generation X – are an exceptional breed born in exceptional eras of hope. We may not have the experience, the political connections and the resources that those who presently lead our state and nation hold, but we believe that we have one thing greater than them: a burning desire to implement and to take hold of the future we were promised.
We want liberty, not more control or regulation. We want excellence, not more excuses. We want peace, not one battle after another fought in vain. And here’s something that may shock you: we can fix what everyone else broke.
As we prepare to conclude this year for the beginning of 2011, we call on young people everywhere in Hawaii and across the United States to arise and to be the voice of sanity and reform. Don’t be content with listening to advice from “experts” or popular voices. Don’t feel compelled to fit into a mold or clique. Don’t let people tell you that you can only choose between Coke or Pepsi, Mac or PC, Red or Blue, Liberal or Conservative, Democrat or Republican. You have to lead yourself in order to be free. Take the time to find out things on your own, test the spirits of this era, think for yourself and when necessary take action even if it seems like you’re going it alone.
We can’t help but think of the words of Jesus who said, “Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have provided perfect praise” (Matthew 21:16). It’s time to stop listening to the people who got us into the crisis and start listing to those who have the desire to fix it. The present generation may require the intervention of the future generation just to save today.
Danny de Gracia, II is a political scientist and the founder of Free And Living Conservative. Cassie Ann Sumimoto is a Hawaii graduate presently attending college at UNLV, a youth mentor and a community advocate. Reach them at info.falcons@gmail.com.