This is an article worth reading. All of it.
It is a Time article, "The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?" (The print version is titled, "That Was Then...and This is Now.") And it is worth the read, whatever your politics or views.
I've selected some excerpts, but there is just no way I can do justice to the scope of this article that way. And I've doubtless selected ones that appeal most to me. But there is much more. This is a big-picture piece, a perspective piece, that really helps readers see the broader, historical context and evolving social and economic factors behind it all--how we got where we are, and where we are likely headed.
We saw what was happening for years, for decades, but we ignored it or shrugged it off, preferring to imagine that we weren't really headed over the falls. The U.S. auto industry has been in deep trouble for more than a quarter-century. The median household income has been steadily declining this century ... but, but, but our houses and our 401(k)s were ballooning in value, right? Even smart, proudly rational people engaged in magical thinking, acting as if the new power of the Internet and its New Economy would miraculously make everything copacetic again. We all clapped our hands and believed in fairies.
...We knew, in our heart of hearts, that something had to give. Remember when each decade, not long after it finished, assumed a distinct character? ...But in all salient respects, "the '80s" — Reaganism's reshaping of the political economy, the thrall of the PC, the vertiginous rise in the stock market — did not end. The '80s spirit endured through the '90s and the 2000s, all the way until the fall of 2008, like an awesome winning streak in Vegas that went on and on and on....Even if deep down everyone knew that the spiral of overleveraging and overspending and the prices of stocks and houses were unsustainable, no one wanted to be a buzz kill.
But now everything really has changed....The party is finally, definitely over....Those of us old enough to remember life before the 26-year-long spree began will probably spend the rest of our lives dealing with its consequences — in economics, foreign policy, culture, politics, the warp and woof of our daily lives...
All that conventional wisdom about 2008 being a "change" year? We had no idea. Recently Rush Limbaugh appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show, panicking not so much about the economy but about how the political winds are blowing as a result. If we finally manage to achieve something like universal health care, Limbaugh warned, it would mean "the end of America as we know it." He's right, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. This is the end of the world as we've known it. But it isn't the end of the world....
We'll see soon enough how well President Barack Obama copes, but long before the collapse, he clearly sensed the nature of the historical moment. His Democratic opponents were all over him a year ago when he gave the Reagan Revolution its due, but he was exactly right: "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America ... He tapped into what people were already feeling ... [He] transformed American politics and set the agenda for a long time ... In political terms, we may be in one of those moments where we can get a seismic shift in how the country views itself and our future. And we have to take advantage of that."
...A big reason for Obama's election and high approval ratings is his privileging of the empirical and pragmatic ahead of ideological reflex. We have not, of course, arrived in a golden age of fair-minded, intellectually honest postpartisanship, as proved by the congressional votes on the stimulus package and the redoubled ferocity of brain-dead partisans. But a majority of Americans out in America are dialing back or turning off their ideological autopilots, thanks to the economic crises, Obama's approach and the post–Cold War realities...But with the economy in uncharted territory, we'll come to recognize that party-line adherence to old political convictions won't provide any easy way out....
If you want to feel encouraged about our economic near future...ignore the stock traders and go talk to some venture capitalists.... [T]hey are optimistic about an imminent tide of innovations in technology, energy and transportation.... The next transformative, moneymaking technologies and businesses are no doubt coming soon to a garage near you....This is the moment for business to think different and think big. The great dying off of quintessentially 20th century businesses presents vast opportunity for entrepreneurs....[T]hey will have a clearer field in which to grow....
In fact, we surely will have to adjust the ways we think of ourselves. Still an exceptional country, absolutely, but not a magical one exempt from the laws of economic and geopolitical gravity. A nation with plenty of mojo left, sure, but in our 3rd century, informed by the wisdom of middle age a little more than the pedal-to-the-metal madness of youth....
But do read the whole article. It is worth the time.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1887728,00.html
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