Brave new world?

Fear has never played a very big role in my life, but perhaps that is because I have had the good fortune to have come of age in the U. S. in a time when good fortunes have abounded. For the most part, since the end of the Second World War, Americans have not known want. Yes, poverty has always been a part of the national experience, but overall that poverty has been limited in scope, and we have had, by the grace of God, the resources to help alleviate it somewhat, if not eliminate it.

That is not to say that there wasn’t a time when poverty or want wasn’t a good deal more widespread. Those Americans born in the early part of the 20th century could tell some harrowing tales, indeed. Like most of my generation, I was made aware of “The Great Depression” at a very early age. It was this event that shaped the outlook of our parents, and made them who they were.

But for my generation, the so-called Baby Boomers, life has been, if not a bed of roses, at least a good deal easier than it ever was for those who came before us. Thanks to the sacrifices of that generation that outlasted both the Great Depression and World War Two, our lives have always had what seemed like unlimited potential.

Yes, perhaps it was because the U. S., unlike so many of the other developed nations of the world, came through World War Two virtually unscathed. Outside of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the brief occupation of a remote Aleutian Island by the Japanese, America was largely spared the scourge of war. And, as we geared up to help defeat the Axis powers, our industry became the envy of the world, and it was this that led to an opulent lifestyle to which we have all grown accustomed.

Unfortunately, time has wrought certain changes for our nation. Today, where symbols of our industrial might once stood, we have, in their place, the so-called rust belt. Our domestic steel industry has long ceased to be threat to any one, and the domestic car makers are following in steel’s footsteps. Toyota will soon become the world’s largest automobile manufacturer. G M just did manage to hold on to that title last year, though it lost billions of dollars while doing so. Ford, for its part, is no longer even the number two car maker in the U. S., having lost that title to the same corporation that is pressing G M. And if anyone is aware of what is going on at Chrysler, they are not letting on.

Seven years after what seemed to be the Golden Age of the U. S., at the end of the Clinton presidency, when the Republicans and Democrats worked together to eliminate an era of deficit spending by the federal government, and where some were even forecasting a time when the national debt would be paid off, all those gains have been seemingly been lost. The federal government is once again deep in a sea of red ink, and the national debt is growing at rate once not thought possible.

Okay, the Reagan administration first introduced us to what we then thought was wholesale deficit spending. Reagan’s deficits were, at the time, records. His economic policies, continued by his successor, President George H. W. Bush, led to deficits that were, at the time, considered astronomical. As one pundit put it, in the 1992 presidential campaign between the elder Bush and Clinton, “Considering the size of the deficits, I feel sorry for whoever gets the job”. As has already been noted, during the coalition style government from 1994-2000, where the GOP had control of Congress, and Democrat Clinton the presidency, common sense took control, and the economy showed that.

But when George “Dubya” took over, and had, as a bonus, control of Congress, common sense seems to have taken leave of D. C. as well. Considering Dubya’s economic policies-Reaganomics on steroids-and his insistence on the Iraqi war that has cost to date some $750 billion, and his laissez-faire style of governing that refuses to intervene in anything he thinks is the purview of the free market, well, it is now that fear begins to creep into my life. Fear, as in, fear of Great Depression-like conditions, that fear that kept control of my parents lives. Everyday, the price of oil increases, and the price of gasoline increases, and the price of everything else increases.

All of this is a nightmare. I am reminded of a friend who had an old-style Caddy during the oil crisis of the late ‘70’s. It would, he said, pass anything but a gas station. I am now afraid to drive past a gas station. I was dubious when forecasters first said four bucks a gallon by summer. Now I am hoping it stops there. And God help us if a major hurricane hits the Gulf coast this year. I am sure we all remember the consequences of Katrina and her friends a few short years back. That was when gasoline first got to the unheard of price of three bucks a gallon. Can you imagine the potential sticker shock if the girls come back this year?

More than anything else, I am afraid to go the supermarkets, now. I cannot tell you how unnerving it is to see the prices for the little amount of food I am able to take out. It is literally getting to the point where, if you have enough money to fill up your tank for a trip to the supermarket, you may not have enough to buy anything when you get there. And the problem isn’t stopping there. The price of food is skyrocketing worldwide, with poor nations bearing the brunt of the resulting food shortages.

More than anything, I am afraid that this problem may have gotten out of control. What if we can’t make this thing right, now? For the first time in my life, thanks to Dubya, I now understand what it was that kept my parents up at night, and I am hoping against hope that the nation will be able to respond as they once responded, and overcome the difficulties we now find ourselves in.