America, and modern industrial democracy, is a reactive culture. We wait for disaster to strike, then we talk about it, vote, and throw money at it until it goes away. That's what we've been doing since the deficit spending initiated by FDR in 1934, socialist that he was. Now we've reached the end of deficit spending, having exported our jobs,
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Comments 15
Those that understand what's coming, like many more per capita in Europe and Canada, for example, seem more educated, while those that prepare for Rapture or Armagenddon or whatever don't worry about worldly problems. I mention Europe and Canada because the level of peak preparedness and understanding there dwarfs that of our, less "socialist", worldview. The important distinction proves to be not economic, as you imply with your FDR dig, but more grounded in everyday reality ( ... )
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Since modern economies are all controlled by market forces, for the most part, they are reactive. They cannot be anything else. Until the market has responded to a change in supply and demand (peak oil, for example) the prices will not change enough to provide the incentive to do something about it.
As you observe, by then it may be too late.
Market forces are great for keeping things balanced in normal times, but they cannot respond to extraordinary events. Unfortunately, in today's world, that's all there is.
But don't blame Roosevelt. Blame "the markets", and the leaders who abdicated their responsibility to lead in favour of "the markets".
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