Dad will be 94 this year if the coronavirus doesn't get him first.
He's been through a lot, seen it all. Darmouth graduate. Served in the US Navy from World War II to Vietnam, retired as a captain.
He was just a little kid during the Great Depression, didn't really know any better. But he's watched America become a lot better since then, and now it suddenly isn't.
Things may end for Dad the way they began, with Great Depression II.
Long war on terror, coronavirus, economic meltdown.
We've had war, plague and depression before in this country, sometimes in rapid succession. WWI ended with a whimper as the Spanish Flu pandemic killed tens of millions, followed quickly by the depression of 1920. That one was very deep and severe, but ended quickly because the government . . . did nothing.
Free market economies, if left to be free, quickly recover from catastrophes because debt overhangs are allowed to clear through bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is the cure.
But we can't stomach that, same as we haven't been able to say No to our children. Self-esteem and all that.
So, expect the suffering and disorder to continue.
Sad.
