This time IS different

You’ve seen the declaration splashed across headlines, “This time is different!” Public perception surrounding the first half of this year and predicting the next has been grim. Pundits espouse that these events have “never been seen”, they are “once in a lifetime,” “a perfect storm”.

The crazy thing is, they’re right.

Whether it is the pervasive Coronavirus, subsequent economic shut down, record low interest rates, unprecedented stimulus, trade war or crude oil prices dropping below zero, this time has been different.

But, if you remember back to the last recession in 2008, was the overarching rhetoric not similar? Swap out the underlying crises with now infamous phrases “subprime mortgage” or “bail-outs” but the message was the same, “this time is different.” And it was.

Every economic downturn has a story. Each one is uniquely difficult in the moment. Each time is different. Yet, there is a constant present in all these stories; people are the engines of the economy and people don’t stay defeated for long. We tend to be extraordinarily resilient in the face of adversity–especially in the face of adversity. We find ways to overcome impossible circumstances, time and again.

Industries will adapt to become useful in any circumstance, taking their innovations to market and lifting economies worldwide. Miraculous solutions, once thought beyond our reach will be spread in an effort to overcome the most harrowing of obstacles. We will learn from each other and be better for it.

Have faith that the human spirit will earn its continued survival, as it always has. No matter how bleak our prospects have looked in the past, we, as a species, pressed on. The upward trend of the market reflects this nature.

We have defied much greater odds than these. Humanity will be there when this is all over. We are ingenious creatures, but ingenuity requires experimentation and experiments often produce mistakes. We’ll overcome those too, even though that time will be different.