Reboot America — New Opportunities Demographics by Naveen Sankar Consumers are at the heart of capitalism, and any trend Positioning America to take analysis will be incomplete without analyzing what is full advantage of the fourth happening in this space. Every study from the last ten years industrial revolution would indicates the following. require us to take a closer look at the trends that are Population Growth is Slow, Uneven: Akin to driving it and trends that are unique to America. If the last the Great Depression two presidential elections are any indications, the electorate Census Bureau data indicates that most counties are only also believes that we are growing at 0.7%. The average population growth in previous heading in the wrong decades used to be 1% or above. Slowing population growth direction. has a severe impact on housing, city finances, entrepreneurship, and social justice. Numerous news articles So let us explore a few trends that are active in our society that about cities using their police department to aggressively fine we must take into consideration while we reboot the system. motorists are just one example of the impact on social justice. Page 1 Libertarian Party of Dallas County, Texas March 2021 American Heartlands are Emptying jobs in society. No amount of government course correction can bring back these jobs. Capital will always look for the easiest path for returns. It’s not naive to look back and long for Counties across the Midwest are experiencing significant the glory days of Industrial America, but it’s naive to think outflow in the prime working-age population. Multiple factors that old jobs can be brought back to serve modern society. The are driving this trend, some of which include lack of job or capitalist system that we follow has never worked in that entrepreneurial opportunities, rapid aging of communities, and fashion. lack of supportive regulatory environment. Millennials are finding it easier to move out of these small cities than stick around and make it work. It also does not help that the values What Next? that millennials have do not align with these locations. The least discussed component of Heraclitus’s philosophy of Productivity Improvements change is the effect of change. If change is a constant, then new opportunities must be its partner in crime. Automation has been a significant driver in productivity So let’s take a quick look at what these new opportunities are. improvements across the previous two centuries. The Many of it is shrouded in the fog of change. Although if we industrial might of the Midwest got decimated in the last two examine a few of the trends that we discussed in this article, decades by outsourcing and global market crash. Automation the following areas of opportunities emerge. is the silent killer of standard middle-class jobs. The heart of American economic strength was agriculture and industrial goods production. Both have become highly automated in the Health Services for Senior Citizens past two decades. USDA reports suggest significant consolidation in farming and growth in average farm size. We are in the midst of a very significant demographic change. These industrial farms have experienced a 1.5% improvement Baby Boomers are retiring (10,000 a day) and millennials are in productivity each year over the last 30 years resulting in a taking over. As part of this trend, the demand for senior care is cumulative 64% improvement. jumping. The medical expense alone in this segment is estimated to be $2 80 ,000 per couple. Further examination of this generation of senior citizens includes the following characteristics. · Better Health (aka Longer Lifespan) · Racially Diverse · Working Longer · Living Alone This combination brings unique challenges from medical (cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and other age relates issues), financial, and practical difficulties such as mobility. Being independent also throws care challenges that were traditionally handled by the family. This is going to generate Small farms during the same period experienced only 17% demand for a slew of new services that could create new improvement. Larger farms can leverage the advances in automated and manual services. Co-living facilities that cater automated farming tools and the latest in irrigation to primary medical care could be driven by remote medical technologies. support and monitoring. We still see only some sporadic development in this area. Industrial good production also shows similar trends where automated assembly lines have significantly reduced the Smart Cities number of workers required for manufacturing. All these trends have reduced the demand for many traditional Mass immigration to the coasts has proved traditional Page 2 Libertarian Party of Dallas County, Texas March 2021 management methods for coastal town and cities to be These opportunities are not limited to large companies. Many inadequate. Millennial values are forcing the market to large companies are not in a position to risk leveraging some develop new solutions in mobility, connected living, and of these new trends. Small startups are in a place to out- infrastructure management. innovate and capture the market. This trend is an accelerator for the gig economy. Freedom of choice and association Platforms are emerging in open-source space such as block- always brings the best out of a market-based economy. If 2020 chains with the goal of aggregating data and provide was an indicator of the untapped opportunity, then we must opportunities for citizens, entrepreneurs, and organizations to embrace autonomy and take back the reins of our future. build smart city applications on top of the platform. These data span areas such as References & Notes Mobility — Transit, Smart Parking & Bike Lanes This article is part of a series that explores how to revitalize the American economy. Connected Living — Fiber Access, Smart Home/Office, Green Space, Urban Gardens, Data Feb 28: This article has been updated to reflect a fundamental Activation change brought on by the pandemic. Infra — Building, Energy, Water, Lighting 1. Percent Population Change by County and Municipio, 2017-2018 Large cities recruiting chief innovation officers is one example of this trend in government at least. 2. Governing.com: Addicted to Fines On the other hand, the mismanagement of larger cities has 3. Productivity Increases With Farm Size in the caused a reversal in the flow of people. Many Rust Belt cities Heartland Region are in the process of reinventing themselves as tech hubs with an abundance of affordable living spaces. Remote work is 4. Heraclitus increasingly negating the need to be in one central place to be efficient as a team. One way for the American heartland to 5. Senior Health Care Options and Costs recover from the economic blight it is suffering from would be to take advantage of this trend. 6. It’s time to reimagine where and how work will get done The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend. There have been fundamental changes in the market. Remote work Editor's note: Re-published from The Startup on Medium.com has gone mainstream. The business world has seen the with permission from the author. benefits or at least has factored in that their workforce need not be concentrated in a specific location to achieve its goals. Pride Committee! A recent survey conducted by PWC highlights this trend. Are you interested in leading and managing efforts for the LPDC to participate in the annual Dallas Pride festival and/or parade? Typically, the LPDC manages a booth for an entire day during the festival, and some years we have created and ridden on a parade float. You can help the LPDC by volunteering to organize LPDC presence at one of the largest festivals in town, and also help support gay rights in Dallas County at the same time. If interested, send an e-mail to the LPDC Chair! Page 3 Libertarian Party of Dallas County, Texas March 2021 Libertarians on Capitalism and positive such as “the best possible outcome for the most possible people”. But that tactic wouldn’t really serve them if Democracy they truly wanted to implement capitalist policies, because that by Ian Downie ambiguous of a principle would not consistently guide policy towards True Capitalism. Many people, sincerely attempting Libertarians are rightfully tired to follow that ambiguous principle, would support some very of explaining to its repetitive non-capitalist policies that they’d believe naturally from this critics that True Capitalism is principle. not remotely similar to the numerous examples of crony So, instead of that putting forth that ambiguous principle, we capitalism that we find all should expect the proponents of an ideology to define its core around us. They explain that in principles in a way that is accurate enough to move society in order to separate True their desired direction when heeded. That level of accuracy Capitalism from the corrupted should be enough to make these principles useful for our test. versions of it, one need only to Therefore, we should rely on the definitions of the proponents examine how closely any of a system to determine what that system’s principles are. system, that is purported to be capitalistic, adheres to the principles of capitalism. The primary principles of capitalism Where this starts to get interesting for libertarians is when we being the establishment and protection of private property start to examine certain systems that many of us don’t rights. wholeheartedly support, such as Democracy. Many libertarians hold incorrect assessments of what Democracy’s They are right to do so, this is the best way of determining principles are. It is for that reason that they so frequently whether any system is of a particular kind. associate Democracy with corrupt systems, just as critics of capitalism do in regards to it.