we need leaders who can inspire people to take on incredible challenges
great man theory BS. In the 60s we had the profits from postwar economic expansion and a propaganda war/arms race to win against the Soviets. Now we have no such profits, and in fact profits are shrinking across the board, so our society’s major institutions are clinging to them as tightly as possible.
There are, but the rate of their increase declines year over year, causing firms to cling to them with ever more self-sabotaging tactics. Then there’s a crisis, and a collapse - there’s a whole book about this, I highly recommend it.
Not only that but the entire Apollo program was about to be scrapped before the CIA fucked up the bay of pigs invasion.
Two days after the Gagarin flight on 12 April,
Kennedy discussed once again the possibility of a
lunar landing program with Webb, but the NASA
head’s conservative estimates of a cost of more than
$20 billion for the project was too steep and Kennedy
delayed making a decision. A week later, at the time of
the Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy called Johnson,
who headed the National Aeronautics and Space
Council, to the White House to discuss strategy for
catching up with the Soviets in space. Johnson agreed
to take the matter up with the Space Council and to rec-
ommend a course of action. It is likely that one of the
explicit programs that Kennedy asked Johnson to con-
sider was a lunar landing program, for the next day, 20
April 1961, he followed up with a memorandum to
Johnson raising fundamental questions about the proj-
ect. In particular, Kennedy asked
Do we have a chance of beating the Soviets by
putting a laboratory in space, or by a trip
around the moon, or by a rocket to go to the
moon and back with a man? Is there any other
space program that promises dramatic results
in which we could win?
They needed a win so they pivoted to the space program. Kennedy didn’t approve that program “because it is hard” and he was a great man. He approved it because he was desperate for anything to show some kind of leadership and superiority over the soviets and communism and the space program seemed to have the only thing left.
Don’t get me wrong I think JFK was a great president but people shouldn’t make him out for something he’s not.
great man theory BS. In the 60s we had the profits from postwar economic expansion and a propaganda war/arms race to win against the Soviets. Now we have no such profits, and in fact profits are shrinking across the board, so our society’s major institutions are clinging to them as tightly as possible.
There are tons of profits. They are just in the hands of people like Musk/Bezos.
There are, but the rate of their increase declines year over year, causing firms to cling to them with ever more self-sabotaging tactics. Then there’s a crisis, and a collapse - there’s a whole book about this, I highly recommend it.
Again, just not true. From before the pandemic (2019) to now, profits have increased by about 25 percent.
“rate of profit” is not the same thing as “profit”. You would know this if you read the book.
Not only that but the entire Apollo program was about to be scrapped before the CIA fucked up the bay of pigs invasion.
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/sp-4503-apollo.pdf
They needed a win so they pivoted to the space program. Kennedy didn’t approve that program “because it is hard” and he was a great man. He approved it because he was desperate for anything to show some kind of leadership and superiority over the soviets and communism and the space program seemed to have the only thing left.
Don’t get me wrong I think JFK was a great president but people shouldn’t make him out for something he’s not.