Adam's Apple
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- Apr 25, 2004
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Decade of Illusion
By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., The American Spectator
Published 8/4/2005 12:08:23 AM
WASHINGTON -- It is now becoming ever clearer that the last decade of the 20th century could go down in history as the "Decade of Illusion". There was the tech bubble whose detumescence was predicted by some of the very same engineering geniuses who had created the technological marvels that it was based on, for instance, Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and a major force in the creation of the Internet. He predicted the bubble's burst almost to the day.
Another of the illusions of the 1990s was that with the fall of Communism barbarism vanished. The world would be safe. Our military budget could be trimmed. All that was necessary to deal with those quaint Islamic zanies across the sea was an occasional cruise missile sent their way, preferably when our aggrieved president was about to appear before a grand jury or be impeached. There was also the illusion that a chief executive's lies were harmless and perhaps even a private matter.
Now some of the liars of the decade have been sentenced to long stretches in the calaboose. Their lies conduced to corporate collapse and the loss of millions to investors and to pension funds. This week with the suspension of Rafael Palmeiro from Major League Baseball many of the baseball records racked up in the 1990s are suspected of being illusory. Quite probably many of them were the product of illegal steroid use. The baseball heroes of the 1990s simply lied about their performances. What other revelations will be coming from the "Decade of Illusions"?
for full article: http://www.spectator.org./dsp_article.asp?art_id=8537
By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., The American Spectator
Published 8/4/2005 12:08:23 AM
WASHINGTON -- It is now becoming ever clearer that the last decade of the 20th century could go down in history as the "Decade of Illusion". There was the tech bubble whose detumescence was predicted by some of the very same engineering geniuses who had created the technological marvels that it was based on, for instance, Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and a major force in the creation of the Internet. He predicted the bubble's burst almost to the day.
Another of the illusions of the 1990s was that with the fall of Communism barbarism vanished. The world would be safe. Our military budget could be trimmed. All that was necessary to deal with those quaint Islamic zanies across the sea was an occasional cruise missile sent their way, preferably when our aggrieved president was about to appear before a grand jury or be impeached. There was also the illusion that a chief executive's lies were harmless and perhaps even a private matter.
Now some of the liars of the decade have been sentenced to long stretches in the calaboose. Their lies conduced to corporate collapse and the loss of millions to investors and to pension funds. This week with the suspension of Rafael Palmeiro from Major League Baseball many of the baseball records racked up in the 1990s are suspected of being illusory. Quite probably many of them were the product of illegal steroid use. The baseball heroes of the 1990s simply lied about their performances. What other revelations will be coming from the "Decade of Illusions"?
for full article: http://www.spectator.org./dsp_article.asp?art_id=8537
