There are no solutions, only trade-offs.
- Thomas Sowell
America has been an economic power for a century. Generations of Americans have only known their country as being an economic giant. That soon will end. A common saying from economist Thomas Sowell has been stuck in my head these past few days, "There are no solutions, only trade-offs." In order to become an economic giant, we had to trade-off something. What did we trade-off?
The answer hit me while I watched a movie that appropriately takes place in a region of the world ready to take America's place as the largest economy, Crazy Rich Asians. The movie is about a Chinese-American, Rachel Chu, meeting her boyfriend's extremely wealthy family in Singapore. Rachel wants to follow her passions. In one striking scene, Rachel is making dumplings with her boyfriend's large family and she mentions she didn't have a big family. Her boyfriend's mother bluntly (and in a judgemental manner) tells Rachel she put aside her career and ambitions to have a large family. (The irony is her boyfriend's mother is willing to put a wedge between her son and his future family so he can be a billionaire businessman.)
That was the trade-off we made: Our families. There is no doubt there has been a systemic dismantling of the American family. While American bank accounts were growing, families were falling apart. About 35% of American adolescents live without one of their parents, and around 40% of American children are born outside of marriage. I think many times we live in this utopian world where there are no trade-offs but in the real world, they exist.
I want America to continue to be economically prosperous but I want us to reflect on trade-offs. Family is not something you trade-off.