Day 1164 – Failure Mode, How well does the system work?
Friday March 27, 2020
219 Days until the election on November 3rd
299 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021
I can’t remember when I first heard the question, “How well does your system work in failure mode?” Nor do I remember the system in question, but I remember the statements leading up to that question. The argument commenced with the idea that it didn’t matter how well the system worked when it was working the way it was supposed to work but rather how well it worked when it was broken (or not working). Seems silly, but that’s where we are.
I saw a recent post asking who had the guts to repost a statement that said vote the straight Republican ticket. I asked myself, “What have the Republicans ever done?”
If you list all the government programs that you and I depend on and like, by and large they were all Democratic initiatives.
It got me to thinking about the Great Depression, which was kicked off by the stock market crash of 1929. However, what really hurt and extended the depression was the credit squeeze of 1932. That’s a polite way of saying the banks wouldn’t lend money. Obama learned this lesson when he bailed out the banks and they didn’t lend the money to people and small businesses but rather gave themselves fat bonuses and bought stock back.
The crash of ’29 was preceded by some good times, and a giant flu pandemic. Calvin Coolidge was president and he famously said, “The business of business is business.” A man of few words, this was a mouthful. The other thing Coolidge did was to sign into law a bill that allowed Immigrants to get screwed over and not allowed into the country. This is the law that prevented a ship at the beginning of WWII to not dock on our shores that was loaded with Jews trying to escape Germany. Instead they went back to Europe and their almost certain death.
I remember reading an article on one of the famous professors at my alma mater, Johns Hopkins, who got his start around the time of the Second World War. The alumni mag published one of his letters of recommendation. Basically, it said, “He’s a Jew, but he’s smart.” OMG. Yeah. There is a lot of prejudice out there. Not that the Jewish traditions don’t bring some of it on themselves.
I wish I had that flash device Men in Black use to wipe out one’s memory of certain things. I’d wipe out a lot of bad stuff.
Ah me.
We are watching the leaders of our federal government screw up. Not once, not twice, but so many times it’s hard to know where to start counting. And someone posted, “Let’s vote the straight Republican ticket?” Are you kidding me? What have they ever done?
We will see how well our country responds to the failure mode of our nation. Just before I started writing this piece a buddy of mine sent me an email that pointed out if we all sheltered in place for two weeks at the same time this thing would be over. Think about that.
219 Days until the election on November 3rd
299 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021
PS Goat!
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