The case for optimism, with Cardiff Garcia — Episode 22 of Onward, a Fundrise podcast

If you’ve listened to Onward regularly over the past year and a half, you know that Fundrise’s CEO Ben Miller has been a perennial contrarian when it comes to assessing the outlook for the economy, especially as markets have overheated and behaved irrationally. And though Ben has recently begun pointing out once-in-a-generation investment opportunities on the horizon, this latest episode of Onward might surprise you, as Ben gives the floor to co-host Cardiff Garcia, who treats us to a fundamentally different perspective — a full-throated case for economic optimism, as we look ahead to 2024.

Ben and Cardiff’s conversation begins with an assessment of the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, where so many of the social, economic, and political upheavals that paved the way for historic inflation also set the stage for fundamentally positive effects on economic productivity, technological adoption, and true cultural change. For instance, as Cardiff explains, the disruption to spending behavior and individuals’ savings, tied to governmental stimulus initiatives, boosted the economy out of a period known as The Great Stagnation, where it had languished for decades. Today, more startups are being founded, economic inequality is shrinking, and the labor market remains tight.

Overall, Cardiff argues that unlike the policy responses to the financial crisis of 2008, which were essentially top-down bailouts of major institutions, the economic initiatives in response to the pandemic showed a real capacity for learning, as they were bottom-up and proactive, helping individuals find footing in these subsequent years, and feeding positive “creative destruction.” While the first benefit of these COVID responses was immediate stability, the second boon, our hosts argue, has yet to become fully visible: a new era of growth and productivity.

Ben and Cardiff go on to discuss which technological advancements are likely to see permanent adoption, like AI and mRNA vaccines; speculate on the positive cultural shifts heralded by pandemic pressure, like telehealth and remote work; and wonder where else we can tease out feelings of optimism from the global economic stage, despite uncertainty looming from actors like Russia and China.

As Ben points out, the current moment feels in many ways like the 1990’s, an anticipatory hush before a massive innovative boom, just on the cusp of broad adoption of the internet, and some of the most important technological and cultural steps forward in history.

All this and more in the latest episode of Onward, anywhere that you listen to podcasts.

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Have questions or feedback about this episode? Drop us a note at [email protected].

Onward is hosted by Ben Miller, co-founder and CEO of Fundrise, and Cardiff Garcia, co-founder of Bazaar Audio and host of the economics-focused podcast The New Bazaar (after spending many years as the co-creator and co-host of NPR's The Indicator podcast).

Podcast production by The Podcast Consultant. Music by Seaplane Armada.

About Fundrise
With over 1 million users, Fundrise is America's largest direct-to-investor alternative asset investment platform. Since 2012, our mission has been to build a better financial system by empowering the individual. We make it easier and more efficient than ever for anyone to invest in institutional-quality private alternative assets — all at the touch of a button.

Please see the Fundrise Flagship Real Estate Fund website (http://fundriseintervalfund.com), Fundrise Income Fund website (http://fundriseincomerealestatefund.com), and Fundrise Innovation Fund website (http://fundrise.com/innovation) for more information on each fund, including each fund’s prospectus. For the publicly filed offering circulars of the Fundrise eREITs and eFunds, not all of which may be currently qualified by the SEC, please see fundrise.com/oc.

Want to see the specific properties that make up and power Fundrise portfolios? Check out our active and past projects at www.fundrise.com/assets.

Disclaimer: This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate. While we have worked to ensure the accuracy of the transcript, it is possible that errors or omissions may occur. This transcript is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for the original audio content. Any discrepancies or errors in the transcript should be brought to our attention so that we can make corrections as necessary.

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