WALT MAKES A MEME

Back in 2000, the United States was

• running a budget surplus,

• our military was second-to-none,

• our image in most parts of the world was quite positive,

• and our economy had been growing steadily for nearly a decade. Some of that growth may have been illusory,

however, and the next eight years featured a daunting combination of
misfortunes

• (9/11,

• Hurricane Katrina), and

self-inflicted wounds

• (e.g., the financial crisis,

• the invasion of Iraq,

• the endless war in Afghanistan,

• the abandonment of any sense of fiscal responsibility, etc.