Can the Economic Storm be Held Back? A Prozac Economy Has Its Costs - WSJ.com

A Prozac Economy Has Its Costs - WSJ.com:
"It is interesting how this discussion of stability seems to reflect what so many Americans write about their feelings - i.e. they don't like the turbulence and they don't like the changes and somehow they have to blame someone; but, is the blame not their own hubris?

In other words, we have a planet occupied by people who are jostling for a better economic life, a purer (in their view) religious life, etc. There is huge turbulence.

And, people want to reduce the turbulence in their own lives (regulation).

But, aren't the excesses talked about in this article actually attempts to deal with the outside forces (competitors, strivers, etc.) who are - in the case of the economy and say the Chinese, trying to get a richer life with more goods and services than they enjoyed before. (Concomitantly, the Islamic terrorists are at the extreme of a religion that thinks it can tell the people of the world the theocratic control system they should live under - but that's another matter.)

So, if the world economy is full of turbulence because of jockeying interests, what would logically be the result of trying to damp this turbulence down?

a) On one hand, it might be that one could dampen down the jockeying. The Chinese would stay poor, the US would stay rich. There wouldn't be economic change. But, is this realistic? Even addressing global warming would have to stop.

b) Or, will attempts to contain the turbulence just build up a greater headwall of a storm surge that will then explode in an even more violent disruption?

c) Also, is the current situation a stable one to protect vis-a-vis (a); or, is it intrinsically unstable because there's too much debt and too much consumption and productive resources are being consumed and not replenished?

It would appear as though in the US is in (c) hoping for (a).

Look at the UK labor strikes over the holiday season. Labor thinks it can hold back the need to cut costs. Is this delusional, myopic, self-defeating or suicidal? An outside observer would think suicidal; but, etc., etc., etc."