“Because markets cannot and do not think ahead, the United States needs a capacity to plan. To build such a capacity, we must, first of all, overcome our taboo against planning. Planning is inherently imperfect, but in the absence of planning, disaster is certain.”
James K Galbraith
I have always been anxious to put a qualifier on this period of time, the post Cold War Era. What garbage will we carry with us that will be the toughest to shed? What can't we leave behind that will impede our ability to move forward and progress as a society and civilization? They are difficult to identify with the myriad economic, social and technical developments that have occurred since the early 90's. The single greatest development that began with the fall of the Berlin wall has been the nationalist, independence movement and continues to provide for the majority of unrest across the globe. In the US, we only began to internalize the consequences when 9/11 put the military blow back into perspective and Al Qaida, Taliban and Afghanistan entered the American vocabulary. While our extreme military response to 9/11 provides the first and most glaring example of what we wrought during the Cold War that we can't leave behind, our nations willingness to forgo real change for making war. The financial crisis of 2008, the Great Recession brought another into focus. It ends up we are so hell bent on defining ourselves as not being socialist that we have totally forgone any real planning and supervision of the economy. Never mind the methodology that really won the Cold War we finally have FREEDOM!!!!! Of course democracy, capitalism and the rule of the law prevailed but planning and investment in the force that would propel free society forward really set us apart. Globalization, greater international cooperation and investment and trade these are the elements that set us apart and must continue to be thought anew in order to progress.
It is telling, for the sheer moral and intellectual bankruptcy, that movement conservatism' response to the crisis is simply to attack the institutions of government as the culprit. The amnesia that their dismantling of the framework of regulation and planning not only brought on the crisis but has handicapped us to respond appropriately to date. We must plan and invest now if we are going to tackle the new and different challenges we face as a nation. If an idea could sum up the primary political, economic and social struggle of our time for posterity it is that we failed to plan, so far. Whether we proceed will define this period of time forever.
James K Galbraith
I have always been anxious to put a qualifier on this period of time, the post Cold War Era. What garbage will we carry with us that will be the toughest to shed? What can't we leave behind that will impede our ability to move forward and progress as a society and civilization? They are difficult to identify with the myriad economic, social and technical developments that have occurred since the early 90's. The single greatest development that began with the fall of the Berlin wall has been the nationalist, independence movement and continues to provide for the majority of unrest across the globe. In the US, we only began to internalize the consequences when 9/11 put the military blow back into perspective and Al Qaida, Taliban and Afghanistan entered the American vocabulary. While our extreme military response to 9/11 provides the first and most glaring example of what we wrought during the Cold War that we can't leave behind, our nations willingness to forgo real change for making war. The financial crisis of 2008, the Great Recession brought another into focus. It ends up we are so hell bent on defining ourselves as not being socialist that we have totally forgone any real planning and supervision of the economy. Never mind the methodology that really won the Cold War we finally have FREEDOM!!!!! Of course democracy, capitalism and the rule of the law prevailed but planning and investment in the force that would propel free society forward really set us apart. Globalization, greater international cooperation and investment and trade these are the elements that set us apart and must continue to be thought anew in order to progress.
It is telling, for the sheer moral and intellectual bankruptcy, that movement conservatism' response to the crisis is simply to attack the institutions of government as the culprit. The amnesia that their dismantling of the framework of regulation and planning not only brought on the crisis but has handicapped us to respond appropriately to date. We must plan and invest now if we are going to tackle the new and different challenges we face as a nation. If an idea could sum up the primary political, economic and social struggle of our time for posterity it is that we failed to plan, so far. Whether we proceed will define this period of time forever.
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