In 1970, Zbiegnew Brezezinski published a book titled Between Two Ages about the coming “Technotronic Revolution”. In the front of the book, he has a quote:
“Human life is reduced to real suffering, to hell, only when two ages, two cultures and religions overlap… There are times when a whole generation is caught in this way between two ages, two modes of life, with the consequence that it loses all power to understand itself and has no standard, no security, no simple acquiescence. Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf
In 1970, the United States was between two ages. We were at the end of the Industrial era and at the beginning of the Information Age – the beginning of computers and automation of process.
Two Ages
Industrial Era
Information Age
Cutting edge research on technology and information was being carried out at the universities and government sponsored research facilities. The advent must have set off an intellectual fire storm – similar to the Scottish enlightment when machines began to replace craftsmen. It was in that atmosphere at UC Berkeley that economics professor Richard Sandor began thinking about markets and computers – probably as a combination of figuring out how to finance the new era as well as applying the tools of the new era.
In interviews, Sandor said it takes 20 years to develop a market. His ideas about the commodities market – trading the tangible and the intangible served the purpose of setting up the market to destroy the industrial economy and finance the information economy – devaluing hard assets, pumping the value of intangible assets. At the same time, the government was deregulating the industries that were at the core of our economy:
Deregulation:
Telecommunications – Breakup the Bell System
Energy – natural gas – Ken Lay and Enron, Market Racket
Electric Utilities – PUCHA 1935, modified then repealed 2005.
Legalizing theft:
Deregulation of Insurance
Deregulation of the Commodities Market
Deregulation of the stock market
Through a wide lense, what they were doing either intentionally or unintentionally, is that they were re-creating the conditions that led to the stock market boom and bust of the 1920s as we went from the agricultural era to the industrial era. Deregulation did allow financing the virtual economy for the information age consolidating wealth in the hands of the few, disenfranchansing the many.
