Great article! That said, I will go to my grave saying the biggest wasted crisis was the Global Economic meltdown of 2008...and the blame for that goes to Obama. (And note, he was the next best president to Biden IMO.)
How did he waste it? The administration's response lacked a systems thinking perspective.
Rather than using political capital on healthcare (don't get me wrong, I work in health and that's a huge issue!) he should have gone ALL IN on a green economy. Not green projects—a green economy!
This would have first of all helped mitigate the current climate disruption. It would have reskilled workers in the Rust Belt that would have continued voting "in their interests" and not easily be radicalized. It would have prevented the influence of many now who are trying to dismantle the global economy. It would have headed off Mogilevich and the oligarchs from going after more oil...and the Rosneft arctic shelf...by making oil / fossil fuels less important.
It could have been pitched like the Marshall Plan. And once the economy was moving, and once those that were easily radicalized by having no economic prospects are instead supporting policies, it would have made the healthcare initiative more palatable and less divisive.
I'm not saying this would have been EASY! But it was the right response to the crisis. And could have made the current polycrisis we're navigating less likely to happen...or at least less severe.
Thanks, and excellent point. Another wasted crisis. I didn't include that one because it felt, in the moment, like something unreal that was trying to be sold to us. Obviously it WAS real, but I don't think it had the same *emotional* impact the other events did.
Walking in the door, Obama still harbored the delusion that the GOP would work with him in good faith. That was his biggest mistake (and he made a lot of them).
Greg, fantastic essay - even if it made me really sad. Chris, agreed about that huge missed opportunity. But I also suggest reading The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton. Because the false belief that we have to pay back that debt leaves us feeling trapped. Failure to understand how government debt is *completely different* from household debt is the *current* greatest missed opportunity. You should really have Prof Kelton on your show (I could connect you)...
There is no dwindling supply of gold. We’re not on the gold standard. We really could repay the debt at any time with a multi-trillion dollar coin.
The government deficit each year equals the private sector surplus. Inflation is the only (and very important) speed limit on the economy. There’s nothing magical about any particular debt level. What DOES matter is to avoid overheating the economy in any given year.
The Debt we have is the result of how much deficit we incurred while choosing the amount of public sector surplus (economic rocket fuel) per year - summed together over time.
High inflation risk year? Rein in spending, raise taxes, or raise rates. Low inflation risk year? Boost government spending, lower taxes, or lower rates without triggering inflation. The deficit incurred (growth in debt) is the result of this decision ONLY. Sum together the two deficit values and that’s the Debt.
But don’t we have to pay it back? Nope. We’re not on the gold standard. We were until the 70s and that’s when Milton Friedman (libertarian) influenced all of economics and *none of the economics textbooks changed* to reflect this new reality.
Related: Social security is not going broke and cannot go broke unless politicians choose to let it. Same with Medicare.
Thanks for this reality check, Vince. You and I spoke about this on the show, but yes, I should have her on and revisit the topic, as it is going to be in the news in the coming weeks.
GOP like warning about the debt because it inspires fear.
Biden helped cement that centrist thinking. As far as Carter, according to WH Reagan employee Barbara Honegger’s book October Surprise, Carter did not stand a chance at re-election. LBJ did the same thing with the Gulf of Tonkin lie that pulled us i to Vietnam. Sadly, because our news media is now so compartmentalized much like the oversight on auditing UFO/UAP black budget we are doomed to repeat these scenarios Third Turning every 85 years. True epigenetic’s in action.
Raising interest rates to quell inflation is crazy. It only makes things worse for everyone. Historically, presidents could put "social" pressure on corporations to lower prices (and astronomical profits) via the use of SHAME. This technique must be revived.
Excellent essay. Definitely among your best work I've seen. What I would never have believed is the percentage of brain-dead among our electorate who continue to believe the first two crises were handled well, and that J6 wasn't a crisis at all. Sad.
I doubt MAGA would be disbanded as fast today, as the America First Committee (AFC) was in 1941, if a Pearl Harbor redux occurred. AFC folded on Dec 11, 1941, four whole days after the Japanese attack. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_Committee
Well, thank god we have a bright mind like Joe Biden in the White House. GWBush made grand statements that his intellect was incapable of supporting. And yes, he nearly sunk the US with his stupidity. Obama was a crappy Potus as he was incapable of being a statesman, and engineered the disastrous 'RESET' button with Putin (with Hillary), but at least Obama passed a health care bill that allows most Americans to afford regular doctor visits. Right now Joe Biden is firing on all cylinders, and I'm thrilled we have him in office. Republicans? You mean the Visigoths who gave us one of the. biggest criminals in American history as Potus? Republicans who have turned into unintelligible babblers of soviet. propaganda and Hitler-esque performances like 01/06? Time for EVERY Republican in America to look in the mirror, and re-read the US Constitution, and consider if what George Washington and his pals wanted for future Americans was a Hitler-esque Autocracy/ OR - were they actually aiming for Democracy? I'm going with the latter, but my Hitler/ Trump loving relatives in PA. are all pushing for Hitler! Time for DECIDING my friends. Yes, it's a Time for Deciding. I'm with Democracy all the way, and I'll leave America if I have to. I'm NOT AT ALL with the autocratic nightmare that the GQP is selling.
The immediate crisis being wasted is the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Zelensky is channeling Churchill but must we face a repeat of Pearl Harbor to awaken the USA? Never Again is *now*
What a genius synthesis of these events, which I have lived through and gnashed my teeth over for decades. Republicans have been the destroyers since I have been an adult. A post on Twitter (before I was banned for calling chump a fascist) said it all. “They piss themselves every presidency, while we “tax and spend” libs have to buy new sheets." And they are still making up bull Schitt to divide and destroy, every hour of every day. The two-party system is dead, dead, dead
Excellent as usual & worth a note that both Bushes are oil men. But we can't yet say, "somehow we have managed to survive three such blunders" unless we add, "to date". It may well be that one of those prior Republican or Obama failures will still sink us. But if not, something in the future will. Because the right reforms & catch-up moves are not going to be made.
PS, We must find a better term than "climate change", which carries none of the meanings of the catastrophes to humanity it will represent. We need a world policy & intervention, which I repeat, will not happen.
Many refer to this as a polycrisis. It's not climate change but climate disruption; plus biodiversity loss, dark money taking over branches of (and whole) governments (e.g. Sheldon Whitehouse banging the drum), the spread of authoritarianism and strongmen (Ruth Ben-Ghiat is on that), threats to global economies (that Dave Troy is bringing forth), christofascism (as Anne Nelson describes), the fusion of mafia states with intel and counterintelligence (LB eloquently tells that story) and more. The tangled threats are resulting from constraining resources coming up against increasing "base human" desire for growth (by the wealthy), mainly from fossil fuels and criminal activity...with population growth on a finite planet.
Great historical perspective (comparing then and now), that really works for me, thanks. There is a less grandiose issue that is pervasive, you can't see it and it spreads quickly and it embeds deeply once unleashed and that is cynicism. An example: The plodding Merrick G looks like he's doing nothing, I mean 2+ years and the J6 Evidence Locker and nothing he acts only when tRump proclaims his candidacy and that's to kick the can down the road. Maybe Jack S will get it done. The insurrectionists who killed Lincoln on 14APR 1865 were indicted, tried and hung (some went to Jail) by 30JUN 1865, you can do the math! The cynicism will rear its ugly head if tRump and his circus clowns walk with a slap on the wrist or less. Cynicism breeds in the faithful (those who believe in democracy and the rule of law) can be far more damaging than a bunch of pissed-off tRumpers. I haven't given up on the system working. Thanks for letting me vent!
Wow. Truly masterful. People are not getting that our democracy might truly be doomed. You're a mere candle in the darkness but a potent one for sure - how do we make sure more people see this?
Excellent piece Greg, Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine, shares similar thought.
Wars are born out of greed, entered via false flag operations, coupled with propaganda. I’ve witnessed far too much over my lifetime!
The bank bailouts and Quantitative Easing have driven me to madness!
Imagine if “We the People”were the recipients, Glass Steagall were reinstated to its 1933, pre 1996 revision, the Telecommunications Act. You know, the one Clinton signed out of existence.
Everything point you make is true... please Heavens above,let sanity reign...And FUQQQQ MassMedia Oligarch Billionaires for Gaslighting and not Helping Save America,and the Planet.These Fuqqqerz are responsible for carrying Autocrats water😓🗽
Great article! That said, I will go to my grave saying the biggest wasted crisis was the Global Economic meltdown of 2008...and the blame for that goes to Obama. (And note, he was the next best president to Biden IMO.)
How did he waste it? The administration's response lacked a systems thinking perspective.
Rather than using political capital on healthcare (don't get me wrong, I work in health and that's a huge issue!) he should have gone ALL IN on a green economy. Not green projects—a green economy!
This would have first of all helped mitigate the current climate disruption. It would have reskilled workers in the Rust Belt that would have continued voting "in their interests" and not easily be radicalized. It would have prevented the influence of many now who are trying to dismantle the global economy. It would have headed off Mogilevich and the oligarchs from going after more oil...and the Rosneft arctic shelf...by making oil / fossil fuels less important.
It could have been pitched like the Marshall Plan. And once the economy was moving, and once those that were easily radicalized by having no economic prospects are instead supporting policies, it would have made the healthcare initiative more palatable and less divisive.
I'm not saying this would have been EASY! But it was the right response to the crisis. And could have made the current polycrisis we're navigating less likely to happen...or at least less severe.
Thanks, and excellent point. Another wasted crisis. I didn't include that one because it felt, in the moment, like something unreal that was trying to be sold to us. Obviously it WAS real, but I don't think it had the same *emotional* impact the other events did.
Walking in the door, Obama still harbored the delusion that the GOP would work with him in good faith. That was his biggest mistake (and he made a lot of them).
Greg, fantastic essay - even if it made me really sad. Chris, agreed about that huge missed opportunity. But I also suggest reading The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton. Because the false belief that we have to pay back that debt leaves us feeling trapped. Failure to understand how government debt is *completely different* from household debt is the *current* greatest missed opportunity. You should really have Prof Kelton on your show (I could connect you)...
There is no dwindling supply of gold. We’re not on the gold standard. We really could repay the debt at any time with a multi-trillion dollar coin.
The government deficit each year equals the private sector surplus. Inflation is the only (and very important) speed limit on the economy. There’s nothing magical about any particular debt level. What DOES matter is to avoid overheating the economy in any given year.
The Debt we have is the result of how much deficit we incurred while choosing the amount of public sector surplus (economic rocket fuel) per year - summed together over time.
High inflation risk year? Rein in spending, raise taxes, or raise rates. Low inflation risk year? Boost government spending, lower taxes, or lower rates without triggering inflation. The deficit incurred (growth in debt) is the result of this decision ONLY. Sum together the two deficit values and that’s the Debt.
But don’t we have to pay it back? Nope. We’re not on the gold standard. We were until the 70s and that’s when Milton Friedman (libertarian) influenced all of economics and *none of the economics textbooks changed* to reflect this new reality.
Related: Social security is not going broke and cannot go broke unless politicians choose to let it. Same with Medicare.
Thanks for this reality check, Vince. You and I spoke about this on the show, but yes, I should have her on and revisit the topic, as it is going to be in the news in the coming weeks.
GOP like warning about the debt because it inspires fear.
The WMD of today
Biden helped cement that centrist thinking. As far as Carter, according to WH Reagan employee Barbara Honegger’s book October Surprise, Carter did not stand a chance at re-election. LBJ did the same thing with the Gulf of Tonkin lie that pulled us i to Vietnam. Sadly, because our news media is now so compartmentalized much like the oversight on auditing UFO/UAP black budget we are doomed to repeat these scenarios Third Turning every 85 years. True epigenetic’s in action.
Here the evidence referenced is missing government money. https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2017/msu-scholars-find-21-trillion-in-unauthorized-government-spending-defense-department-to-conduct
Obama faced a crisis that others did not. Guess what it was. I saw it first hand in Texas…
Thank you, Greg.
I constantly see articles about Republicans who don't take the opportunity to make things better.
This is because "better" is a world in which they have little power.
They clearly know this, do everything they can to wreck democracy.
#MangoWanker #Turdking #Mobster #Traitor
#GOPTraitors #Fascists
#MurdochWanker
#Murdoch
They are selfish, greedy fuckers who would watch the world burn to make a few more dollars. It's vile.
Raising interest rates to quell inflation is crazy. It only makes things worse for everyone. Historically, presidents could put "social" pressure on corporations to lower prices (and astronomical profits) via the use of SHAME. This technique must be revived.
Excellent essay. Definitely among your best work I've seen. What I would never have believed is the percentage of brain-dead among our electorate who continue to believe the first two crises were handled well, and that J6 wasn't a crisis at all. Sad.
Thanks, Stephen. I know. It's sad. Sad is the word for all of it.
Great article. So many excellent comments.
I would look forward to you exposing The Deficit Myth.
I wish Biden would find a way, damn it.
I doubt MAGA would be disbanded as fast today, as the America First Committee (AFC) was in 1941, if a Pearl Harbor redux occurred. AFC folded on Dec 11, 1941, four whole days after the Japanese attack. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_Committee
Japan “saved” us from the home grown fascists, who can do it now…
Well, thank god we have a bright mind like Joe Biden in the White House. GWBush made grand statements that his intellect was incapable of supporting. And yes, he nearly sunk the US with his stupidity. Obama was a crappy Potus as he was incapable of being a statesman, and engineered the disastrous 'RESET' button with Putin (with Hillary), but at least Obama passed a health care bill that allows most Americans to afford regular doctor visits. Right now Joe Biden is firing on all cylinders, and I'm thrilled we have him in office. Republicans? You mean the Visigoths who gave us one of the. biggest criminals in American history as Potus? Republicans who have turned into unintelligible babblers of soviet. propaganda and Hitler-esque performances like 01/06? Time for EVERY Republican in America to look in the mirror, and re-read the US Constitution, and consider if what George Washington and his pals wanted for future Americans was a Hitler-esque Autocracy/ OR - were they actually aiming for Democracy? I'm going with the latter, but my Hitler/ Trump loving relatives in PA. are all pushing for Hitler! Time for DECIDING my friends. Yes, it's a Time for Deciding. I'm with Democracy all the way, and I'll leave America if I have to. I'm NOT AT ALL with the autocratic nightmare that the GQP is selling.
Obama a crappy president, just had both hands tied behind his back, and thought we still had “better angels.”
The immediate crisis being wasted is the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Zelensky is channeling Churchill but must we face a repeat of Pearl Harbor to awaken the USA? Never Again is *now*
Good stuff; Share Worthy.
What a genius synthesis of these events, which I have lived through and gnashed my teeth over for decades. Republicans have been the destroyers since I have been an adult. A post on Twitter (before I was banned for calling chump a fascist) said it all. “They piss themselves every presidency, while we “tax and spend” libs have to buy new sheets." And they are still making up bull Schitt to divide and destroy, every hour of every day. The two-party system is dead, dead, dead
Excellent as usual & worth a note that both Bushes are oil men. But we can't yet say, "somehow we have managed to survive three such blunders" unless we add, "to date". It may well be that one of those prior Republican or Obama failures will still sink us. But if not, something in the future will. Because the right reforms & catch-up moves are not going to be made.
PS, We must find a better term than "climate change", which carries none of the meanings of the catastrophes to humanity it will represent. We need a world policy & intervention, which I repeat, will not happen.
Many refer to this as a polycrisis. It's not climate change but climate disruption; plus biodiversity loss, dark money taking over branches of (and whole) governments (e.g. Sheldon Whitehouse banging the drum), the spread of authoritarianism and strongmen (Ruth Ben-Ghiat is on that), threats to global economies (that Dave Troy is bringing forth), christofascism (as Anne Nelson describes), the fusion of mafia states with intel and counterintelligence (LB eloquently tells that story) and more. The tangled threats are resulting from constraining resources coming up against increasing "base human" desire for growth (by the wealthy), mainly from fossil fuels and criminal activity...with population growth on a finite planet.
Climate death is what we should call it.
Great historical perspective (comparing then and now), that really works for me, thanks. There is a less grandiose issue that is pervasive, you can't see it and it spreads quickly and it embeds deeply once unleashed and that is cynicism. An example: The plodding Merrick G looks like he's doing nothing, I mean 2+ years and the J6 Evidence Locker and nothing he acts only when tRump proclaims his candidacy and that's to kick the can down the road. Maybe Jack S will get it done. The insurrectionists who killed Lincoln on 14APR 1865 were indicted, tried and hung (some went to Jail) by 30JUN 1865, you can do the math! The cynicism will rear its ugly head if tRump and his circus clowns walk with a slap on the wrist or less. Cynicism breeds in the faithful (those who believe in democracy and the rule of law) can be far more damaging than a bunch of pissed-off tRumpers. I haven't given up on the system working. Thanks for letting me vent!
Wow. Truly masterful. People are not getting that our democracy might truly be doomed. You're a mere candle in the darkness but a potent one for sure - how do we make sure more people see this?
Excellent piece Greg, Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine, shares similar thought.
Wars are born out of greed, entered via false flag operations, coupled with propaganda. I’ve witnessed far too much over my lifetime!
The bank bailouts and Quantitative Easing have driven me to madness!
Imagine if “We the People”were the recipients, Glass Steagall were reinstated to its 1933, pre 1996 revision, the Telecommunications Act. You know, the one Clinton signed out of existence.
Where would we be now?
One can always dream...
Eloquent as always Mr Olear
Everything point you make is true... please Heavens above,let sanity reign...And FUQQQQ MassMedia Oligarch Billionaires for Gaslighting and not Helping Save America,and the Planet.These Fuqqqerz are responsible for carrying Autocrats water😓🗽