2039: HBS Reunion Edition

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2039; HBS 50th Reunion Edition MBA Class of 1966 , Meet Martin Shapiro, Section G, , Huffington Post contributor and author of 2039 . In his novel, set 24 years in the future, a senior couple tries to escape to Canada for medical treatment denied by Medicare. Martin will discuss with the attendees his vision of the future of Retirement, Social Security, the Affordable Care Act, the national deficit/debt and other issues of today as he sees them in 2039 Plan to retire? Retiring or retired? - Relying on Social Security, Medicare? - In the military or the Defense Industry? - WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE IN 2039? Will the US become energy independent? - How will that change our foreign policy? - Will alliances be altered? WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE IN 2039? Energy self-sufficient or dependent? - Environmentally aware or careless? - Believe global warming or not? WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE IN 2039? Democrat or Republican? Libertarian? - Assimilated American or Ethnic; Racial Resident? - Does political intrigue ever stop? WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE IN 2039? Christian, Jewish? Supporter of Israel? - Have Jewish friends, family? - Can Israel survive without US help? WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE IN 2039? Will Iran rejoin the world as a rational nation? - Will the disintegration of the Mid East continue? - Will Israel survive or be annihilated? READ ABOUT IT IN 2039. We all need to think about the future. - We, our children and grandchildren all have a stake. - Don’t speculate about the future… READ ABOUT IT IN 2039. 2039 2nd Edition Author’s Motivation Between 2011 and today, • With the political gridlock in America, with no end in sight, • the high rate of unemployment and underemployment, • the growing number of Americans on public assistance, • the millions of illegal aliens working here, and the political football it is causing, • the wind-down, and maybe another wind-up––of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, • the sequestration and proposed downsizing of the US Defense Department, • the energy boom from fracking, followed by volatile fluctuations in energy prices, • the continuing CO2 pollution of the atmosphere, • the fear of global warming, • the Affordable Care Act implementation, • the government deficits and rising, massive total debt, • the quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve bond buying, • Iran going nuclear, threatening Israel with extinction, • the unrest in one after another of the Arab nations, • the declaration of a caliphate in portions of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and others, • the never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict, • gold and silver prices rising to new highs, then falling into stagnation, • marijuana and drones going mainstream, • China ascending, and • Russian resurging, –had me wondering how these issues might look in twenty-four years. I intensified my study of energy issues, emerging technology and the domestic/world issues that would have to play out in some fashion over the coming decades. They are not just going to disappear! So this story proceeds by extrapolating these entangled conditions and events, entangled within the story of a senior couple, Jon and Ida Kadish, trying to live their lives as we know it today. I present a picture of their issues and hopes within a United States and world that you will not recognize until 2039.