James Fallows has written a must-read article in the July/August 2005 Atlantic Monthly titled: Countdown to a Meltdown – America’s coming economic crisis. A look back from the election of 2016. I’d link to the article but it requires a paid subscription. From my perspective the article is worth the price of a subscription. (Full disclosure – I read a hard copy purchased from the magazine aisle at Safeway.)
The article is scary and informative. Fallows gives us a ton of information (and the footnotes to back it up) in the form of a strategy memo from a campaign manager to a third-party presidential candidate who is, given events, clearly expected to win and govern. Fallows also manages to make very complicated economic, monetary and geo-political issues understandable. Our failure to maintain our educational lead on the rest of the world, our reliance on foreign energy and our economic relationship with China all create a house of cards just waiting to be knocked over. Throughout the "memo" we are reminded of the role both the Democratic and Republican parties have played in creating or ignoring the mess. At the end I had two questions. Where is this third-party? Why wait until 2016?
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.