Chaos, again

Eighteen years ago, having nothing better to do (other than writing books and being a lousy MP) I started writing this blog. The world was a hot mess in 2008.

The US housing market had crashed hard. Massive mortgage defaults swept that country. Then the financial titans that has packaged and sold those dodgy loans started to topple. Wall Street was in crisis. Banks failed. And Washington moved in with a historic $700 billion bailout to prevent depression and runaway deflation.

This blog explained that happens in such an unknown (since the Dirty Thirties) scenario:

Wages fall as prices collapse, but debt remains static. That means financial obligations become harder and harder to meet, leading to widespread defaults, personal bankruptcies, foreclosures and bank failures. The whiff of this is already in the air. Bear Sterns, then Lehman, then Merrill, then almost AIG, along with Freddie and Fannie. This string of disasters is unprecedented since the 1930s, as is the current misery in the American housing market.

Not long after, as the US dollar sank along with real estate values, we suggested it was a boffo time to travel south and vultch a property or two. Those who did would never regret it.

Well, it’s not 2008, but once again the land to our south is having a cow. This time a dangerously infatuated AI economy has emerged just as America becomes protectionist, aggressive and autocratic. Little Canada has ended up in the presidential crosshairs. We might emerge as a global leader, standing up to a rogue world power. Or, we could get squished.

It s another historic moment. Artificial intelligence, climate change, political polarization and global reordering. Mark Carney famously called it a rupture, not a realignment. It is. This seems like the beginning of chaos. Not the end.

Over the past 18 years this blog has published over six thousand columns, the equivalent of 80 full-length books. So far there are 975,000 recorded comments (plus a few million disgusting deleted ones). To date more than 1,500 dogs, all owned by readers, have been glorified. Along the way a few eel, donkeys, lizards, birds, tortoises and (ugh) cats also made it to the top of a post.

Why dogs?

As stated before, they remind us of eternal values in a world of angst. Unconditional bonding. Loyalty. Curiosity and trust. Dogs are not judgmental, selfish, needlessly cruel, envious or power-hungry. People love dogs because they re better than us at being human.

As in the autumn of 2008, it s an epochal time. Most of us are unready for what the next few years seem likely to bring. Canadians have absorbed too much debt, relied too heavily on real restate to save their buts and invested too little. Most of us don t have pensions. Financial illiteracy is rampant. And AI may be eating a ton of jobs, making employers more productive, shareholders wealthier and citizens more stressed.

So when the global order abruptly changes, as it is, life as we know it is ripped apart. Will we ever again be able to trust America? Is the world tilting inevitably toward autocracy when individual liberties are reduced and governments embrace isolationism, even racism? What s the nature of education, training or work itself when machine gods can do it all faster, better and cheaper? Why does it feel like everything is meaner these days?

Dunno. But this blog will continue to be a daily record of history, strive to understand the changes, and suggest some ways to cope.

Sometimes we get it right. Often not. Occasionally it’s horrid.

But always, dogs. We can be better. Like them.

About the picture: GreaterFool webmaster William Stratas writes: “This week marks 52 years since my family’s dog (a champion doberman, formally named Ch. Norroy’s Dusky Shaitan) was featured on the front page of your old newspaper, the Toronto Sun. Apparently one of the Sun’s photo-reporters was a client at the animal hospital and noticed the car licence plate (ARF-720) of one of the clinic attendants. He asked if a dog was available to strike a pose, and Shai stepped up for the privilege. I love her defiant pose, like she did not give an ‘arf’ about this staged scene. Exactly as she conducted herself in the 13 years she lived: assertive, protective, proud and perfect in every way. She is deeply missed even today.”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, email to ‘[email protected]’.