Last Wednesday, I sat down with Cliff Schecter and David Shuster from Blue Amp Media for a wide-ranging — if occasionally chaotic — conversation about the state of our economy.
I give the current economy a “B minus”: inflation just hit a three-year high and real wages have barely budged since the president took office, but job growth has been surprisingly strong over the past three months. It’s important to separate the parts of the economy that are working from those that aren’t, and not let either side of the political spectrum cherry-pick a narrative that best fits their slogans.
On AI and automation, I try not to sugarcoat the situation. The current moment reminds me of the Industrial Revolution, which dramatically shrank agricultural employment — progress that, in hindsight, freed people up for other pursuits, but was often brutal for generations caught in the transition. What’s different this time around is both the speed and target: automation used to come for physical labor, slowly. This wave is coming for cognitive work, fast.
We then move onto an equally anxiety-inducing issue: the concentration of wealth and its implications for the American political system. By my calculations, Musk spent roughly 0.026% of his net worth to influence the outcome of the latest presidential election — proportionally equivalent to the average American household donating roughly $50. Which means he has enough left over to fund thousands more such efforts. The stakes are high, and this conversation is long overdue.
Despite it all, I still believe the next generation of Americans will inherit the richest society in history. But maintaining that prosperity requires attention to safety nets, fair competition, and the institutions that underpin growth and innovation.
