Parallels between 1913 and 2013 (wage, middle east, enemy, drugs)
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The current era (1989 to today) is very similar to the tail end of the 19th century/beginning of the 20th century (c. 1895-1913). Trade was booming, high-scale war seemed impossible. The telegraph system and faster ships made the world seem smaller than ever. Just about everywhere was mapped. Progress seemed inevitable. It also saw the peak of the British Empire and the exploitation of workers in the West and basically everybody in the Global South.
The past quarter century has seen the opening of the markets of the East (fall of the Warsaw Pact/USSR), the rise of the new hyper-fast communications system (the Internet), the expansion of air travel, and instant universal access to information (Google and the smartphone). Currently we are in the peak of American economic and political hegemony and a new Gilded Age where a small minority are becoming very rich but inequality is increasing just as fast.
100 years after 1913 our commentators tell us much the same story they did back then. That globalisation (not the world they used, but the same concept) was inevitable, that it would lead to peace, and that it was irrational to question it.
While the global market economy has helped some people it's also created many losers. Not only that but it has caused societies everywhere to become more materialistic and anti-intellectual. If a project doesn't have a prospect of making profit generally speaking it will not launch no matter how much it may benefit humanity. This is why pursuits such as space travel and life extension are so slow coming. During the 1960s we were able to put a man on the moon less than 10 years after decided we wanted to.
For all the talk about how advanced we are, it's in fact deceptive. Our "information superhighway" is mostly powered on the ancient filthy source that is Coal. Deep down cyberspace is just as primitive as a steam train. It's just a little bit fancier. But it runs on the same finite and destructive resource. A human being hasn't been more than a few hundred miles off the surface of the Earth in half a lifetime (the 1970s).
The revolutions of 2011 failed despite the 1980s-minded neoliberal hoopla that Twitter and Facebook would liberate the masses of the Middle East from tyranny. The situation in Syria could easily lead to a confrontation between the world's giants. And if not that, depletion of the water table, or a plunge into a true economic depression could do the same.
We all know what happened the year after 1913. Like Public Enemy said, don't believe the hype.
Ya, it proved 1921 could not get there fast enough.
Thank the lord someone was elected in 1920, that knew why the economy crashed and did something to correct it.
We need another Harding & Coolidge!
People have been comparing {now} with various periods in human history of change in order to predict doom and gloom since, well about the 13th century. If people say it often enough it actually comes true. Not because of some great predictive powers, but these things happen. It's like predicting some one will eat lunch in 10 years.
The real question is the next time something bad happens, what are you going to do? Sit in a dark room making predictions about the the next bad time, or get out and live your life?
I agree that there are a ton of parallels. That was the Progressive Era, and with the election of Obama I think arguably that progressivism has had a renaissance. The federal income tax came about in 1913; national health care dawns in 2014.
Government was getting into the business of naysaying vices that had formerly been the province of religion. Drugs were addressed (Harrison Act of 1914), also Prostitution (the Mann Act) and alcohol (Volstead Act). Similarly we have crusades against tobacco, fatty foods, and large sugary drinks. Just the other day there was a story in my local paper about a woman being sent to the federal pen for 'cigarette trafficking.' Wash. woman to prison for cigarette trafficking | Local News | The Seattle Times
Some of the Robber Barons had been neutered by 1913 here in America. Our billionaires are still running things. That's one BIG difference. Other than that, you're right on the money. And the Shia vs Sunni conflict is lining up just like the Allies vs Central powers in WWI.
There are parallels, but I don't see Syria having any chance of starting a world war. At most, it will be the battleground of a proxy war between Russia and the US, but even that seems unlikely.
The fact is, countries were itching to go to war before WWI. The archduke's assassination was just the excuse they needed to do it. Today, the America is certainly not itching to go to war. I have no idea if Russia is. I know China isn't.
100 years after 1913 our commentators tell us much the same story they did back then. That globalisation (not the world they used, but the same concept) was inevitable, that it would lead to peace, and that it was irrational to question it.
What commentators would those be, because I have serious doubt that anyone in 1913 was talking about "globalization" in any sense that we would recognize today. Imperialism for sure, but free global economy... surely you jest. In 1913, Africa, and Asia were colonies of West, South America was in a state of quasi-colonialism, global trade amount of natural resources leaving those regions and not a whole lot returning. That being the case your premise sort of dies a premature death.
1913 was the birth of The Federal Reserve. Hopefully 100 years later in 2013 we will see it's death.
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