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The Great Reset

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The Great Reset

How the Post-Crash Economy Will Change the Way We Live and Work

Harper,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

The current economic doldrums are likely a “Great Economic Reset,” and more productive than you think.

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Editorial Rating

8

Recommendation

Urban studies scholar Richard Florida first popularized the idea of the creative class. Now he argues that saving the last shreds of the factory-driven industrial system makes no sense. A massive overhaul is underway, and knowledge workers are its new vanguard. Florida makes his points in short, punchy chapters, but steps away from stating the obvious. getAbstract recommends this book to economists, politicians, urban planners and anyone wanting a sense of the likely future.

Summary

Where the US Has Been and Where It’s Going

Today’s economic crisis has been in the works for years. And, the US has endured major downturns before, in the 1870s and the 1930s. Such times of upheaval are “Great Resets,” when the economy remakes itself for a new kind of prosperity. Resets change where you live and work – a “spatial fix.” This new society will be less anchored and more mobile, with rental housing rather than home ownership, and public transportation rather than cars. Enormous megalopolises will emerge as engines of economic purpose.

The “Long Depression” of 1873 arrived on the back of banking woes spurred by bad mortgages and high-wire financial products. This fiscal catastrophe marked the birth of big industry, as advances took hold in steam turbines, internal combustion engines and steelmaking. This was the time of Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, inventors who created industrial systems. Those systems improved railroads, produced trolley cars, and promoted the development of public schools focused on literacy and social skills for future factory workers. College availability grew and education expanded, particularly in training engineers.

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About the Author

Richard Florida also wrote The Rise of the Creative Class and Who’s Your City?

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    A. 1 decade ago
    I think the biggest strenght of the U.S. is that, besides Canada, it is probably the country most open to people of all cultures. The biggest pitfall is probably its media/show business which, while being watched around the world, has a created a society that is more and more in conflict with science and progress.