Economists, Military Strategists and Others Warned Us
Long Ago
Weve known for 5,000 years that mass spying on ones own people is always aimed at grabbing power and crushing dissent, not protecting us from bad guys.
Weve known for 4,000 years that debts need to be periodically written down, or the entire economy will collapse. And see this.
Weve known for 2,500 years that prolonged war bankrupts an economy.
Weve known for 2,000 years that wars are based on lies.
Weve known for 1,900 years that runaway inequality destroys societies.
Weve known for thousands of years that debasing currencies leads to economic collapse.
Weve known for millennia that torture is a form of terrorism.
Weve known for thousands of years that when criminals are not punished crime spreads.
Weve known for hundreds of years that the failure to punish financial fraud destroys economies, as it destroys all trust in the financial system.
Weve known for centuries that monopolies and the political influence which accompanies too much power in too few hands are dangerous for free markets.
Weve known for hundreds of years that companies will try to pawn their debts off on governments, and that it is a huge mistake for governments to allow corporate debt to be backstopped by government.
Weve known for centuries that powerful people unless held to account will get together and steal from everyone else.
Weve known for hundreds of years that standing armies and warmongering harm Western civilization.
Weve known for over 300 years that going into debt to pay for war ruins any nation.
Weve known for 200 years that allowing private banks to control credit creation eventually destroys the nations prosperity.
Weve known for two centuries that a fiat money system where the money supply is not pegged to anything real is harmful in the long-run.
Weve known for 200 years that a two-party system quickly becomes corrupted.
Weve known for over a century that torture produces false and useless information.
Weve known since the 1930s Great Depression that separating depository banking from speculative investment banking is key to economic stability. See this, this, this and this.
Weve known for 80 years that inflation is a hidden tax.
Weve known for 79 years that war is a racket that benefits the elites but harms everyone else.
Weve known since 1988 that quantitative easing doesnt work to rescue an ailing economy.
Weve known since 1993 that derivatives such as credit default swaps if not reined in could take down the economy. And see this.
Weve known since 1998 that crony capitalism destroys even the strongest economies, and that economies that are capitalist in name only need major reforms to create accountability and competitive markets.
Weve known since 2007 or earlier that lax oversight of hedge funds could blow up the economy.
And we knew before the 2008 financial crash and subsequent bailouts that:
The easy credit policy of the Fed and other central banks, the failure to regulate the shadow banking system, and the use of gimmicks and palliatives by central banks hurt the economy
Anything other than (1) letting asset prices fall to their true market value, (2) increasing savings rates, and (3) forcing companies to write off bad debts will only make things worse
Bailouts of big banks harm the economy
The Fed and other central banks were simply transferring risk from private banks to governments, which could lead to a sovereign debt crisis Postscript: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it
and weve known that for a long time.