A One - Two Punch

The Atlantic Monthly for July - August has two remarkable essays that are very much worth the effort to find and read. The Atlantic famously does not make its content available online without a full subscription. The essays are, however, easily worth the $6.00 newstand price for the issue.

The first essay is by James Fallows and is titled:

Countdown to a Meltdown
America's Coming economic crisis.
A look back from the election of 2016

Fallows describes three periods leading up to the demise of the two party system: 1] Cocking the Gun; 2] Pulling the Trigger and 3] Bleeding.

Interestingly, Fallow's scenario does not have to come to pass. One way to prevent it is to significantly reduce our dependence on gasoline for our transportation requirements, as suggested by Thomas Freedman in his recent NY Times op-ed.

The second powerful essay is a history lesson from Benjamin M. Friedman, professor of economics at Harvard:

Meltdown: A Case Study
What America a century ago can teach us about the moral consequences of economic decline.

Friedman reminds us the the Populist movement of 1880 - 1895 was not a model of tolerance and democracy at its best. Quite the contrary, to the surprise, I am sure, of many of today's take back America populists.

History is replete with instances in which a turn away from openness and tolerance, often accompanied by a weakening of democratic institutions, has followed economic stagnation.

Both essays warn us that, unless we change the road we are on, the destination we reach may not be what any of us would want. The hand writing is on the wall for all of us to read. The principal questions are: will we read it? and then, will we take appropriate action?

Posted by Jock Gill at June 18, 2005 9:56 PM | TrackBack