As an example, reading through the headlines this weekend, it is being seriously proposed by some that major US cities will go from having police protection to completely defunding police, and 36% of Americans recently polled are in favor of defunding police, which is stunning, even to me. I believe that even the thought of that kind of flipflop would have been impossible in 2008, and if the bubble had been allowed to collapse in 2008, there would have been some kind of police protection throughout the entire depression that would have occurred. Instead, I'm pretty sure that at some point there will be no police protection at all as it currently exists in any major city in America.
When Spain collapsed centuries ago, there was a saying something to the effect that, "Those who can will not, and those who will can not." That's the point America has gotten to today.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xp ... story.htmlIN WASHINGTON, PRETENDERS REIGN AND TRUTH-TELLERS ARE SILENCED
Ron Smith
THE BALTIMORE SUN
July 31, 2009
Looking at the history of runaway government spending, a disturbing pattern is readily discernible: There is never a lack of observers at a given time who understand the severity of the trouble at hand, but these people lack the power to cut costs and avert calamity. An observer at the time of Imperial Spain's unwinding more than three centuries ago commented on the failure of every attempt at real reform, writing, "Those who can will not and those who will cannot."
I agree with Ron that this was a critical time in our history to get it right. That window of opportunity has passed.