I think the one action overlooked in the evolution of the United States that underpins so much else, is the fact the debt started with the New Deal. So not only was Roosevelt putting unemployed labor back to work, but unemployed capital, as well. It seems to me the real elephant in the room is the secret sauce of capitalism is public debt backing private wealth.

To the extent societies, cultures, states form super organisms, government functions as the nervous system, while money and banking serve as blood and the circulation system. With public government and private banking, the banks are in control and the main jobs the flunkies allowed in office have, is running up the debt the financial sector needs to underpin its metastatic growth. "The real money is in bonds."

That the politicians feel the need to play cowboys and Indians on the other side of the planet is simply a side effect. The military is the only public works project allowed.

Much as small villages have to function communally, so too do large societies. We have this illusion of everyone saving individually, in our little bank accounts, but that just leaves us as pods in the Matrix, with those accounts as our economic umbilical cord. Healthy environments, functional utilities, education, healthcare, etc, would all be forms of public investment in everyone's future.

right now, it seems the banks are having their own, "Let them eat cake" moment.

As for Carter, I agree with John Egelkrout, that he was a good person, but in way over his head.

Remember Zbigniew Brzezinski was his national security advisor and started the whole Al Qaeda in Afghanistan brain fart.