Why You Should Read: Michael Lewitt, editor of The Credit Strategist, says out loud what many observers have been thinking silently: Our current system is not equipped to manage the enormous problems we face. Only a major crisis will force the necessary changes. Key Points: The 9/11 attacks, the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic each unleashed adverse political and economic policy responses. The forces driving these negative conditions are too powerful and too locked-in to reverse. Minimizing the damage requires us to speak honestly and openly about the failures. Yet there is no market for truth in America, and a total lack of candor about the economy’s true condition. Media reports focus on short-term questions that are irrelevant in the long run. Bottom Line: Lewitt doesn’t mention The Fourth Turning or any other cycle theories. Yet his conclusion is similar to the historical patterns John has been describing in Thoughts from the Frontline: A crisis is coming not because anyone wants it, but because the events we’ve allowed leave no other option.

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