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It hasn't degraded in such a short time, this rot has been there for 30 odd years. Infrasture, systemic corruption to an unprecedented level (it's always there, but the scale is different), etc.

What happened 'so fast' was how fast they pulled off the mask. 10 years and it's practically off in its entirety...

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> 'How did you go bankrupt?' Bill asked.

> 'Two ways', Mike said. 'Gradually and then suddenly'.

As someone who was around during Reagan, you are correct. The turn happened in the 80s, and then rapidly accelerated in the 90s and 2000s, then rapidly accelerated again in the past 10 years.

I think a lot of folks are stuck on the idea that it's been a singular bad actor -- a Trump, or a McConnell or something. This "Great Man Theory" is almost certainly a very naive read of the systems that are leading to this moment.

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