Sublime

I think it's as clear as the nose on my face that the fiscal path we're on is simply not sustainable. And when I'm asked to describe the situation we face, to me, it's always like a cancer, and it's a cancer that truly is going to destroy this country from within." This was not some crazed right-wing extremist speaking, nor even Alan Simpson,

for Jewish ethics, the path to universal love is through partiality rather than around it.

the faith of a man who has considered the very real possibility that chaos and bloodshed are simply all there is.

He identifies four broad possible responses to this situation: Growth, Continuity, Descent, and Collapse.

life expectancy alone is not enough. There has to be a suppression of degenerative diseases that currently turn the older cohort into massive consumers of resources rather than producers. Diseases that kill quickly are economically sustainable. Keeping people alive who can’t produce is economically debilitating.

Due to the absence of a reasonable and healthy relationship of participatory cooperation between the capitalist [creditor] and the entrepreneur [debtor], the global economy suffers tremendously and faces alternative highs and lows that adversely affect the world’s economic health.

Even when the cancer was in retreat, it cast long shadows.

Practically speaking, this outlook manifests in the substantial attention these countries pay to buttressing services pertaining to housing, the physical environment, conditions at work, supportive social environments, family allowances, income support, unemployment support, and other social services, rather than more medications, hospital days, an