The Disconnected States of America

I’m publishing this series of articles to share and discuss my ruminations on coping with a troubled and messy world. You can “follow” me to never miss an article.

Once again, Paul Krugman has pulled no punches in giving a stark assessment of the current state of America[i]:

“…I’ve been trying to understand what happened to Ohio, and what it can teach us about America’s future. My short answer is that the United States of America has become the Disconnected States of America, on several levels.”

Once upon a time — just after WW11 — Ohio was relatively well-off like the State of Massachusetts. But things changed for the worst after Ohio lost manufacturing jobs. In Krugman’s words:

“…the 21st-century economy has favored metropolitan areas with highly educated work forces; Ohio, with its relatively low share of college-educated adults, has been left behind.”

What’s saddest of all that even though Biden’s policies have helped White working classes more than Trump’s ever did, Trump still gets credit and is the favored candidate.

If ever we needed a contest for he, she, or they who can explain in plain terms why voting for Biden is not only the smart thing to do, but that it’s crucial for our survival, it couldn’t be needed more than it is now. It’s the only way in which to keep our fractured Union together, if even this can do it.

[i] Paul Krugman, “What’s the Matter With Ohio,” The New York Times, Friday, March 22, 2024, P A27.

Ian I. Mitroff is credited as being one of the principal founders of the modern field of Crisis Management. He has a BS, MS, and a PhD in Engineering and the Philosophy of Social Systems Science from UC Berkeley. He Is Professor Emeritus from the Marshall School of Business and the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. Currently, he is a Senior Research Affiliate in the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, UC Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Management. He has published 41 books. His latest is: The Socially Responsible Organization: Lessons from Covid, Springer, New York, 2022.

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