The Big Stupid America Era Is Here. Will It Destroy Us?

Here in America, we do things big and lethal. Big Tobacco could have arisen only from North Carolina soil, the U. S. government’s generous price-support programs, and Americans’ mile-wide self-destructive streak. The development of the interstate highway system in the 1950s surely helped the Big Three automotive companies—GM, Ford, and Chrysler, which is now Stellantis—and our aversion to high-speed rail continues to work to their advantage. Massive government grants have allowed Big Pharma to become a trillion-dollar industry, though not a nimble enough one to have called dibs on “Stellantis” for the name of an erectile-dysfunction medication.

But these are times of austerity in the wealthiest country the world has ever known, and we’re cutting back. Not on defense contracts or president