At 3 percent, today's 5-cent stick of gum in 50 years should cost 22 cents. That's within the range of reality for most of us. After 100 years, that stick of gum would cost 96 cents, a price that starts to stretch the imagination. Obviously, we are being absurd. And personally, I believe that will happen.
History is filled with major adjustments, some sudden and some gradual.
Some have been natural and many were man-made. But they all disrupted and often destroyed what had seemed to be a steady course of life that people could count on. Just as stock market corrections periodically wring out excessive optimism, major catastrophes seem to occur frequently through the centuries to pull the rug out from under what we think is secure and predictable. In this century we have had two great world wars, persistent famines and major political upheavals in much of the world. Longer life expectancies, like those of my grandchildren Aaron, Sara and Krista, seem to increase the odds that they could experience some extremely traumatic times.