The list has grown too long to ignore. We are a
country that exercises almost no foresight. We wait for disasters to occur and
only then (if then) does it occur to us to do something about the problem.
Here’s an especially heinous example: our
government hires numerous financial experts, of course. Alan Greenspan was one
of them. Why couldn’t any of them see the subprime disaster long before it
occurred? Instead, our government’s experts allowed unscrupulous mortgage
companies to lend out far too much money to homeowners in the form of “exploding
ARMs” such that it was entirely predictable that the borrowers would fall behind
on their payments after only a few years, and that many would lose their homes
through foreclosure. Our government stood by while these loans were
hyper-securitized to the point where the unscrupulous mortgage companies would
go belly up, tranch-laden real estate trusts (who ultimately purchased the
loans) would throw their hands and claim that they were innocent and Wall Street
would laugh all the way to the bank. That is, until Wall Street failed and
successfully begged the federal government to bail out Bear Stearns. All of
this was entirely foreseeable. The real disaster is that we failed to use our
brains.
For another example, think of the Minnesota Bridge
collapse. Let’s see… what might happen if you don’t allocate proper federal
funding to fund sufficient bridge inspections? Of course, it’s only after a
huge bridge collapses or a major levee breaks that we start thinking about the
resulting disasters here in America.
Do you want another example? There are
hundreds.
Remember when our president manufactured the need
to go to war and all of the allegedly patriotic people (including many of your
neighbors and friends, I’m sure) imposed group-think upon each other? Voices
trying to raise important concerns and objections were muzzled in the name of
“freedom.” What were we thinking? That we were better off to parrot the
President? What we got is what we deserved: the low point was when Colin Powell lied to the American
people, who patriotically nodded affirmatively, encouraged by their
patriotic daily newspapers from coast to coast. In retrospect, who couldn’t see
that this type of “patriotic” group-think behavior would endanger our
democracy?
Who couldn’t end see the problem with electing, as
President of the United States, a man who lied about his military service and
who had failed miserably in almost everything he had ever attempted, repeatedly
covered up by his family? What would you expect if you elected such a person to
be president? Why couldn’t we see all of this coming?
And look how we conduct “debates” to evaluate the
next president. They are largely substanceless and xenophobic, relying on
soundbites and concocted personal attacks. Why is it so hard to see that this
is a terrible way to evaluate a President?
And why can’t we see that allowing large
corporations to pour their money into the coffers of politicians will cause our
politicians to do corporate bidding rather than responding to the needs of
citizens? Why is this so hard to anticipate or understand? The fact that this
legalized bribery goes on should be the front page headline in almost every
newspaper almost every day.
Why is it so hard to see the natural consequence of
running massive budget deficits? Since 2002, the Dollar has lost 40% of its
value compared to the Euro. This comes as a surprise to some of us, for reasons
that are hard to fathom.
Why can’t we see the consequences of allowing the
FDA to be taken over by corporate interests? Why do we then act surprised when
largely unregulated pharmaceuticals kill thousands of people?
Consider, too, the quality of our news media. To
many people, it is somehow a surprise that our news media has let us down. This
shouldn’t be a surprise though, not in light of widespread political corruption
at the FCC. What else can you call it when the FCC decides that it exists
primarily to serve huge corporate interests? [There are also heroes at the FCC,
including Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Kopp.]
We educate our children through the use of
extensive multiple-choice tests, but we expect them to be intelligent. What’s
wrong with us?
Water reservoirs are running low in numerous
states, including Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia, but we have no long-range
solution. We have no plan, even though many large reservoirs will be bone dry
in 2020.
We rely on a precious and diminishing fossil fuel
for most of our transportation needs, yet we waste it through ill-conceived
urban planning and luxury vehicles that get 10 miles per gallon. But we
couldn’t anticipate any “oil crisis,” not till gasoline shoots up to five
dollars per gallon . How can this be?
We live in the permanent present, just like
toddlers. Our track record also proves that we have the foresight of toddlers.
You might as well let a baby drive a truck through a busy intersection.
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