Understanding the Outcomes that Will Matter Most

Executive Summary Paper wealth will revert to its intrinsic value Risk will continue to be transferred onto the taxpaying public Moral hazard and fraud will by the norm, not the exception Complexity will be used to mask failure Individuals will increasingly opt out of the system through means both covert and overt If you have not yet read The Trends to Watch in 2013, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first. In Part I, we examined eight dynamics which will likely influence society, politics, and finance in the next few years. In Part II, we examine different manifestations of the one dynamic that counts: the inability of the Status Quo to make meaningful structural reforms. This inability has many facets, but only one root: political sclerosis caused by entrenched, vested interests seeking to protect their perquisites and power. An economy that ...