When people consider the worst that could happen to their country, they think of totalitarianism. Given communism’s failure, that fate no longer seems likely. (snip) The real danger is inadvertently becoming the Argentina of the 21st century. Slipping casually into steady decline would not be hard. Extremism is not a necessary ingredient, at least not much of it: weak institutions, nativist politicians, lazy dependence on a few assets and a persistent refusal to confront reality will do the trick.How about our persistent national refusal to confront the reality of Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare entitlements plus debt service using up the entire Federal budget?
The ghosts of Juan and Evita Peron, those "unusually seductive populists," still stalk the midnight streets of Buenos Aires, neither gone nor forgotten. Wisely, The Economist notes that California has shown itself susceptible to what I think of as the "Argentine Wasting Sickness."
