Page 181 - Psychology of Money - Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness-Harriman House Limited (2020)
P. 181
Imagine an alien dispatched to Earth. His job is to keep tabs on our
COBACOBA
economy.
He circles above New York City, trying to size up the economy and how it
changed between 2007 and 2009.
On New Year’s Eve 2007 he hovers over Times Square. He sees tens of
thousands of happy partygoers surrounded by bright lights, monstrous
billboards, fireworks, and TV cameras.
He comes back to Times Square on New Year’s Eve 2009. He sees tens of
thousands of happy partygoers surrounded by bright lights, monstrous
billboards, fireworks, and TV cameras.
It looks about the same. He cannot see much difference.
He sees roughly the same number of New Yorkers hustling around the city.
Those people are surrounded by the same number of office buildings, which
house the same number of desks with the same number of computers,
hooked up to the same number of internet connections.
Outside the city he sees the same number of factories and warehouses,
connected by the same highways, carrying the same number of trucks.
He gets a little closer to the ground and sees the same universities teaching
the same topics and handing out the same degrees to the same number of
people.
He sees the same number of patents protecting the same groundbreaking
ideas.
He notices that technology has improved. Everyone in 2009 carries
smartphones that didn’t exist in 2007. Computers are now faster. Medicine
is better. Cars get better gas mileage. Solar and fracking technology has
advanced. Social media has grown exponentially.
As he flies around the country he sees the same. Around the globe, more of
the same.
