Are we going to nurture an economy of competitive abundance, or one of scarcity and rationing imposed by monopolistic business interests that hide behind environmentalist and anti-racist rhetoric?
The street-level view is a freak storm knocking out the power for a few million unlucky Texans. But the bigger picture comes into view as an indictment of a bought, unresponsive, ruling class.
If the California state government and PG&E are willing to put their citizens and customers first then both will employ alternative policies for preventing forest fires, policies that do not harm an already struggling economy.
America today needs the courage that was displayed in the 1930s as we prepared to fight fascism, and in the postwar era as we contained and then defeated Soviet communism. America is now in a new existential conflict, this time with the fascist, racist, expansionist regime that controls the Chinese mainland.
Americans are wearing out infrastructure that was built decades ago. Thanks to permitting delays and litigation, the costs of replacements and upgrades are prohibitive. It doesn't have to be this way.
The United States needs to spend more on its military, it needs to spend more on its infrastructure, even if that means increasing the federal deficit. There is no palatable alternative.
The U.S. has to use deficit spending to make investments in resilient new infrastructure and military technology that leapfrog our adversaries and bring the nation into the 21st century.