Our Inflection Point

Writing at The Hill, Grady Means looks beyond the Covid-19 pandemic and asks what will post-pandemic America look like, how will it differ? He doesn't claim to know for sure where we're headed, but poses some interesting possibilities.

The pandemic has made the shift to online retail permanent and decisive. Medical and legal professionals, bankers and nearly every other service sector have learned to work from home, suggesting a permanent, low-overhead model for many. Distance learning will grow and there will be more focus on telemeetings, as the structure of work changes.

Telemedicine, distance learning, emergency response, telecommuting, even tele-socializing will all expand after this crisis.

America may be shifting toward what Trump might call “nationalistic globalism.” All of this, in the end, is a huge blow to U.S.-China trade relations.

Biosecurity will be on everyone’s mind. Other types of security will move to the fore, including cybersecurity, grid security (EMP hardening), emergency response and communication systems, and dominating space.

Our early 21st century has found its "black swan" event, its inflection point. We have to step up and, in words I used in a quite different context nearly 50 years ago, "Cope, damn it."