The Year In Review

As we enter into the back stretch of this year, 2009, this hollowed time for gifts and lists, parties and pause. A few remarks for posterity sake! What to make of this year 2009? The best and worst--at least a summary.

First, a word-- from our sponsor.

If a word could sum up a year this year’s word would be: apprehensive. The fallout from the great financial sector collapse brought in the New Year along with other candidates such as foreclosure and derivative, prophet and pariah--more on the latter two later. Not that prior years provided for any more relative stability just without such concern, trepidation for future prospects. A new President promised a break from the past, the status quo, hope and change-- all three also candidates, and apprehension. Trying as he might to persuade us otherwise there was no sugar coating our predicament, no easy sound bite to paper over real fear itself. But time heals all wounds, we are resilient—human beings, grown accustomed or adjusted too, the potential new norm.

Fortunately, as the dawn of a new year comes I look forward with more hope for change and resolve to find a solution to my apprehension.

Second, a man.

In this the year of apprehension, no one has been more steely, resilient and determined to provide a road map, get the word out and work for a solution to what ills society than my man of the year, Al Gore. The recognition that the only way our economy, planet and humanity can survive in light of our ever increasing population and depleting natural resources is to get out from underneath the elephant of carbon based fuel consumption. Maybe especially this year, with George W. Bush officially in the rear view mirror, the man who jokes that he "Used to be the next President of the United States" fully hit his stride. First, with the release of "An Inconvenient Truth" he created the framework for and elevated the conversation about the climate change from outside of political office. Now with "Our Choice" Gore is at the pinnacle of his understanding of elements, risks, and opportunities that exist in order to set ourselves on solid footing for the future. The choices that lay ahead of us on this issue are important and the consequences of our action or inaction on the tandem issue of energy and climate change will impact the progress and prospects of generations to follow. The focus on the breadth of inputs and potential solutions are important and regardless of how you feel about the issue are smart and worthy of pursuit. He is right and I commend him.

Finally, an idea.

Having just written of my respect and admiration for an individual, a disclaimer. Like most of you, maybe as a result of age or analysis of this particular year, I have become cynical of individuals and yet the cult of personality is increasingly pervasive in society. And it begs the question what accounts for this trend? Perhaps a continuation of the macro to micro trend, the Cold War shedding process that the world is going through in which the state sovereignty gave way to individual actors. For me, the individuals that I follow like Paul Krugman, James Galbraith, Alan Harvey and Noam Chomsky to name a few help make sense of an increasingly complex and specialized conversation surrounding public policy solutions with informed opinion. Those individuals that I perceive to recognize the state and nature of the world and are working toward providing for positive outcomes. Still others seek and provide with varying levels of success and sincerity coping mechanisms, scapegoats, positive reinforcement mechanisms and general entertainment. These individuals, be they trend setters, celebrities, experts, politicians or commentators, have increasingly prophetic roles in our culture with cult like followings. No longer strictly the domain of dead men in religious books modern day prophets have a tremendous influence over their subjects. There have always been celebrities, Elvis and The Beatles, that young people look to as trend setters for emulation. But they never informed our opinions, actions and interactions to the same degree as the modern day prophet. And yet they are still only all too human and prone to, personal shortcomings, short sightedness and ideology and desires.

The financial crisis provides perhaps the best example of the elevation of prophet. For almost 20 years the future economic prospects of the nation hung in the balance until Alan Greenspan provided his testimony before Congress. Fortunes were won and lost based on the promotion of stocks on CNBC by people looking for "Mad Money". Pop the bubbly, celebrate mans desires uncut and in control--equilibrium. Instead as George Soros illustrates in his philosophy of reflexivity, we are not rational, efficient actors but rather prone to imbalance in exercising our desires. And we all suffer the "Who coulda known" consequences. So what do you do when even the "Maestro" can get it wrong. Is the simple recognition of ideology or vested interest enough to keep this in check, a disclaimer ticker. Perhaps our divisive politics or increasingly diminished common interests or education have propelled us toward this end. Regardless, society is eager in this time of apprehension to exult a saviour to the throne to follow the cult of personality with a herd like mentality.

So what is the difference. If we are prone to follow group think with inherent downside what identifiers might help us make better decisions about who to follow? Each generation is defined by the leaders public officials, thinkers, inventors those who truly impact the future path of humanity. They are the recognized individuals that sculpt their time and place for the history books. And yet every prophet that you and I might identify in our time that is in the news provides very little positive, arguably negative impact on society and yet we still get caught up reading the tabloids, listening to the talking heads, balloon boys, the latest on Kanye or Tiger. So I resolve in 2010 to continue to seek out those individuals that are history or making it and communicate them here to help amplify the good in the conversation, the progress that is being made in our time. And perhaps more importantly to ignore the rest.