I have a dream

Here is a thought experiment about changes that have taken place in the United States. Read the segments below about visions of the future and imagine they are from speeches given by corporate executives. If corporate leaders had actually made these comments, their visions would have been directly on target. But would the public have taken these predictions seriously, and if they had, would we have had a different course for our economy and culture? The chairman of American Airlines addresses stockholders in 1938 . Fellow shareholders, . I see airplanes becoming virtually the sole means of intercity-travel within the United States. Passenger railroads will essentially become extinct. The magnificent railroad stations in the centers of our cities will become useless real estate, with most of them eventually torn down or turned into museums. The chairman of RCA addresses stockholders about television in 1940 . Fellow shareholders, you have just seen a demonstration of the new medium of television. Soon it will be pervasive in the United States. At first it will offer wholesome entertainment for families. But that eventually it will bring pornography into almost every household in America. Programs will be too obscene for parents to watch with their children. This new technology will bring the entire nation down into the gutter. The chairman of General Motors addresses stockholders in 1946 . Ladies and gentlemen, with the automobile industry growing rapidly, that the automobile will bankrupt every mass-transit system in the United States. Mass transit will be wiped out in all but the largest cities, and where it remains, it will be only because of massive taxpayer subsidies. Anyone without an automobile will be isolated from stores, schools, medical care, and recreation facilities. And through installment debt, the purchase of overpriced automobiles will help send countless families into financial