Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [191]
“My guess is they’ll attack the entitlement part of the bill—particularly the parts about maintaining the freeze on social security and other benefits until the benefit reductions under phase II of the bill kick in. They’ll garner support in that area, although not as much as they might think, according to a recent poll I read.”
“What poll is that, Clayton?”
“It was a poll taken by the Frothing Foundation, asking Americans about their feeling on shared sacrifices to resolve common challenges. It got at our huge deficits and whether or not they’d be willing to see freezes or cuts in their benefits, or tax hikes, if they thought the sacrifices were being fairly shared by all. Surprisingly, a majority said they would if the cutbacks were fairly applied. This is where Congress will really have to clean up its own act.”
“The PAYGO strategy for all expenditures not directly related to energy infrastructure development has them charged up. It will make it far more difficult to slip in earmarks, and they don’t like that,” Jack added without a trace of empathy.
Minutes later, Maggie entered the room. “Hi, guys, mind if I join you for a little adult conversation? The girls are playing a video game—I think they’re settled for a bit.”
“Sure, Mags, we could use a little adult conversation around here,” said Clayton, winking at Jack.
“So, what’s going on?” she asked.
“We’ve pretty much covered the gamut from international to domestic politics and even talked about our vacation plans,” Jack responded.
“Sorry I missed it,” Maggie said. “I just read a great summary of what has happened over the past year. Very flattering to you, Clayton, but it does say that the Israel–Iran conflict is still unresolved. It prompts my question: what’s the latest on these two countries, if I might ask?”
“Sure, Mags,” Clayton replied. “Not long after that chat I had with Lin Cheng at Camp David about putting a brake on Iran, things began to happen. I don’t know what he said to the Iranians, but I have noticed that their aggressiveness in the Middle East has ratcheted down significantly. Even the UAE is feeling a little easier about them as of late.”
“Israel has also quieted down, Maggie,” said Jack. “I talked to Tony Mullen the other day, and he tells me they’re genuinely interested in cranking up peace talks in the region. They’re looking for us to sponsor the move so that they’ll not look soft to their constituents. You know, like, ‘the United States put heat on us to pursue these talks and that’s why we’re doing it.'"
Maggie nodded. “Right,” she said. “At least some of us can do the right thing without looking for someone else for butt-coverage.”
“Now,” said Clayton with a grin, “we’ve answered your question—tell us about this great article you read.”
“It’s an article from the Washington Post,” she said. “Can I just read you the article? It’s short.”
“Sure thing, Mags, I’d love to hear it.”
“Okay, here goes: It’s titled ‘A Blessing in Disguise.'” She read it slowly, word for word.
Sometimes it takes a major catastrophe to wake up a people to the reality of their predicament. Absent a crisis, the tendency is to play it safe and not rock the boat; it’s much easier to sweep challenges under the rug and offer mindless bromides than meaningful solutions.
Does anyone, for instance, think the United States would have been able to do the things it had to do to win World War II without Pearl Harbor? Without it, the political will to break out of isolationism or transition to a wartime economy would never have happened. Passive incrementalism would have ruled the day, and Europe and Asia would have been lost.
In a sense, the Saudi oil crisis was our modern-day Pearl Harbor. It was a blessing in disguise. Now why do I say this?
Prior to the crisis, we were floundering in a cold war. We were spending money we didn’t have for products