9/11 Was Big. This Is Bigger.

(Photo: Zdnet)

A Commentary From
The Washington Post:

Two September shocks will define the presidency of George W. Bush. Stunningly enough, it already seems clear that the second -- the financial crisis that has only begun to unfold -- may well have far greater and more lasting ramifications than the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

That's because while 9/11 changed the way we view the world, the current financial crisis has changed the way the world views us. And it will also change, in some very fundamental ways, the way the world works.

Of course, the Sept. 11 attacks left a deep scar on the soul of the country and caused immense tragedy. Beyond human losses, they also revealed that being the sole superpower did not make us safe. But the attacks themselves were not, in a real sense, as significant a turning point in world history as they may have seemed at the time. (Remember, it was actually Bush's father who had first been put in charge of an American "war on terror" during the 1980s when he was Ronald Reagan's vice president.)

Read more ....

My Comment: 9/11 and the financial meltdown that is occurring are two different things. Both have impacted us .... and will continue to impact us for the foreseeable future .... but the extent it will impact each and everyone of us depends on a multiple number of factors. Some good, some very bad, and some not at all.

In addition, while I will agree with the statistics that David Rothkopf spins in his article for the Washington Post, I am in complete disagreement with the causes that he lists. Using Ronald Reagan .... a President who left office 20 years ago as a starting point and a concluding point for this financial catastrophe is laughable. President Ronald Reagan spent his entire career as a politician warning against debt .... in particular government debt .... and the long term harm that it would have on the American economy. His battles with a Congress that hated him on this issue was always in the news when he was President, especially when it came to taxes which hewas always tried to limit or decrease .... and to budgetary matters that Congress was always demanding was their responsibility .... which (of course) it is.

Ronald Reagan's biggest regret on the domestic scene was his failure to work with Congress to reign in government spending, resulting in a massive increase in the national debt. Congress and his Presidency were always fighting on this issue. But to label this as a failure because of the "bankrupt dogma of Reagan-Thatcherism" .... two people who on the issue of budget and taxes screamed about the dangers of debt .... reveals an ignorance on the part of the writer of what were the guiding principles for these two leaders.

I will refer all my readers to his October 27, 1964 speech "Rendezvous with Destiny" .... this is Ronald Reagan's first major speech in a national setting .... and what he talked about was his fears of national debt and the growth of government.

His words are prophetic when you look at the world today.