I've been thinking along these same lines for years now. Much of America's civic and business institutions are/were built and financed assuming eternal growth

I've been thinking along these same lines for years now. Much of America's civic and business institutions are/were built and financed assuming eternal growth economics to support them. It isn't the recession itself destroying these budgets. It's the recession causing an honest assessment of recent and future growth and calling into question the feasibility of old debts, old promises, ways of life taken for granted, assumptions that drive the very basis of our society. (growth=success, bigger=better) Granted, I live in Michigan, where we've been given a free preview of waking up to the cold realities of sprawl economics juxtaposed with a debt load based on eternal-growth expectations. So I can understand why most people will experience a few years of denial, cherry-picking 'evidence' from an ever-shrinking number of still-growing cities to prop up their pre-existing world view. I did the same thing. I get it. But when the evidence is finally at your door-step, utterly unavoidable, you'll realize it isn't a left vs right issue, or a government vs business issue. But an American lifestyle vs reality issue.