2 Comments

An excellent, poignant, and heartfelt column. A lot of thought...both emotional and realistic went into this. I commend you for your familial reverence, your historical recall, and your trepidation of the future.

On the civilizational/societal bell curve, we as Americans passed the three quarters mark about 20 years ago. If "America" as we know it was founded in 1776, that makes us societally 248 years old, If you take the aggregate average of societal life (202 years) and combine it with the average civilizational existence, (412 years), it gives you 614..divided by 2= 307. If one takes those figures literally, it means we likely have perhaps another 60 years before it all comes tumbling down.

I think we as a peoples have a real shot at a lot more than that... BUT... Its going to take a complete reversal in the way we think and operate. It occurs to me that there is very little "United" in United States anymore. We have become so diverse and diluted that there is no common goal, dream, or even enemy anymore. There is no mutual call to arms...no Hitler, no Stalin, no Hirohito. There is no gold rush, no westward ho, no drive to grown the infrastructure.

Im not sure what the answer is, but the issues are many. Perhaps an ALIEN INVASION? Only time will tell.

Expand full comment

The Fed has proven they can keep things going much longer than even they (Bernanke) thought possible. If they can come up with tricks to keep the economy going, I see no reason they would not. The end could be farther in the future than we think.

War is the possibility I fear most. Netanyahu was in a terrible political posture in 2023. There were huge protests in Israel as late as October of last year. Now -- voila! All his tribulations are on the shelf and he's engaged in what he loves most. Which our leaders of all persuasions happen to love most as well.

Expand full comment