Readjusting Expectations and Saying Goodbye to Endless Consumer Options

Here are some snippets of news stories about CV19 and other issues, and our take on the generational impact of these news stories.

New York Times, April 1, 2020

A 4th Turning will Readjust Your Expectations

Patient Has Virus and Serious Cancer. Should Doctors Withhold Ventilators?

With a looming shortage of equipment for coronavirus patients in New York City, doctors say they may soon need to make difficult choices.

Commentary

Strauss & Howe very specifically state that in a 4th Turning Crisis Era many resources will be ALLOCATED by the government … rather than by your desire to have them or your ability to purchase them … and that this change in resource allocation can change on a dime.

I know it may seem like CV19 just happened and it’s just a coincidence that this is the “Crisis Era,” but if CV19 wasn’t the issue, it’d be something else that’d put us in a crisis and/or world war wherein “the enemy must not just be defeated but destroyed.”

Remember, it’s not just the event at play but how society responds that makes it what it is. In a different generational constellation, the social response and government response to CV19 would be completely different!

Say Goodbye to the Days of Endless Choice

Chicago Tribune, March 26, 2020

McDonald’s borrows $1 billion, shelves all-day breakfast to help it through coronavirus crisis

McDonald’s plans to temporarily slim down its menu during the coronavirus pandemic — and it appears all-day breakfast is on the way out.

Commentary

Soooo, one of the things said about a “First Turning” (Society’s Spring, the American High similar to the mid-40s-mid-60s in the US) is that consumer expectation of CHOICE diminishes in exchange for ACCESS for all. We’ve still got a good eight years left in the “Fourth Turning” … but we can all see the writing on the wall: the era of endless consumer choice is coming to a screeching halt. Access to goods and services and “middle class support” will significantly trump choice and options in the coming couple decades.