How Short-Term Thinking Is Destroying America

[berg80]

In the disquieting new film “Eddington,” the director, Ari Aster, captures the American tendency to live obsessively in the present. As a Covid-era New Mexico town tears itself apart over mask mandates, Black Lives Matter and conspiracy theories, a faceless conglomerate constructs a data center nearby — a physical manifestation of our tech-dominated future. It’s an unsubtle message: Short-term compulsions blind us to the forces remaking our lives.

In the chaos depicted, Donald Trump is both offscreen and omnipresent. Over the decade that he has dominated our politics, he has been both a cause and a symptom of the unraveling of our society. His rise depended upon the marriage of unbridled capitalism and unregulated technology, which allowed social media to systematically demolish our attention spans and experience of shared reality. And he embodied a culture in which money is ennobling, human beings are brands, and the capacity to be shamed is weakness.

Today, his takeover of our national psyche appears complete. As “Eddington” excruciatingly reminds us, the comparatively moderate first Trump administration ended in a catastrophically mismanaged pandemic, mass protests and a violent insurrection. The fact that he returned to power even after those calamities seemed to confirm his instinct that America has become an enterprise with a limitless margin for error, a place where individuals — like superpowers — can avoid the consequences of their actions. “Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback,” he said in his Inaugural Address. “But as you see today, here I am.”
Unsurprisingly, the second Trump administration has binged on short-term “wins” at the expense of the future. It has created trillions of dollars in prospective debt, bullied every country on earth, deregulated the spread of A.I. and denied the scientific reality of global warming. It has ignored the math that doesn’t add up, the wars that don’t end on Trump deadlines, the C.E.O.s forecasting what could amount to huge job losses if A.I. transforms our economy and the catastrophic floods, which are harbingers of a changing climate. Mr. Trump declares victory. The camera focuses on the next shiny object. Negative consequences can be obfuscated today, blamed on others tomorrow.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/opinion/america-short-term-thinking.html

when trump fans extol the virtues of trump "winning" it invariably reminds me of a guy who also made those claims. I don't think he was seeing things as clearly as he could have. Neither are trump fans.

 

[Mac1958]

Over the decade that he has dominated our politics, he has been both a cause and a symptom of the unraveling of our society.

Yeah. Similarly, to me, he's a result. Our society has become more shallow, more coarse, more ugly, far less interested in decency, standards and honor, and far more interested in celebrity, degradation and conflict. Of COURSE we're ultimately going to end up with something like this. Even those who have always claimed to be the "moral" ones have fallen.

This has always been about us, not him. We've really let our Founders down.

 

[Independent thinker]

In the disquieting new film “Eddington,” the director, Ari Aster, captures the American tendency to live obsessively in the present. As a Covid-era New Mexico town tears itself apart over mask mandates, Black Lives Matter and conspiracy theories, a faceless conglomerate constructs a data center nearby — a physical manifestation of our tech-dominated future. It’s an unsubtle message: Short-term compulsions blind us to the forces remaking our lives.

In the chaos depicted, Donald Trump is both offscreen and omnipresent. Over the decade that he has dominated our politics, he has been both a cause and a symptom of the unraveling of our society. His rise depended upon the marriage of unbridled capitalism and unregulated technology, which allowed social media to systematically demolish our attention spans and experience of shared reality. And he embodied a culture in which money is ennobling, human beings are brands, and the capacity to be shamed is weakness.

Today, his takeover of our national psyche appears complete. As “Eddington” excruciatingly reminds us, the comparatively moderate first Trump administration ended in a catastrophically mismanaged pandemic, mass protests and a violent insurrection. The fact that he returned to power even after those calamities seemed to confirm his instinct that America has become an enterprise with a limitless margin for error, a place where individuals — like superpowers — can avoid the consequences of their actions. “Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback,” he said in his Inaugural Address. “But as you see today, here I am.”
Unsurprisingly, the second Trump administration has binged on short-term “wins” at the expense of the future. It has created trillions of dollars in prospective debt, bullied every country on earth, deregulated the spread of A.I. and denied the scientific reality of global warming. It has ignored the math that doesn’t add up, the wars that don’t end on Trump deadlines, the C.E.O.s forecasting what could amount to huge job losses if A.I. transforms our economy and the catastrophic floods, which are harbingers of a changing climate. Mr. Trump declares victory. The camera focuses on the next shiny object. Negative consequences can be obfuscated today, blamed on others tomorrow.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/opinion/america-short-term-thinking.html

when trump fans extol the virtues of trump "winning" it invariably reminds me of a guy who also made those claims. I don't think he was seeing things as clearly as he could have. Neither are trump fans.

No one does short term thinking any more than you do.

 

[toobfreak]

How Short-Term Thinking Is Destroying America​

Sage advice from a group of people who have designed their entire lives around short-term thinking.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Unsurprisingly, the second Trump administration has binged on short-term “wins” at the expense of the future. It has created trillions of dollars in prospective debt, bullied every country on earth, deregulated the spread of A.I. and denied the scientific reality of global warming. It has ignored the math that doesn’t add up, the wars that don’t end on Trump deadlines, the C.E.O.s forecasting what could amount to huge job losses if A.I. transforms our economy and the catastrophic floods, which are harbingers of a changing climate. Mr. Trump declares victory. The camera focuses on the next shiny object. Negative consequences can be obfuscated today, blamed on others tomorrow.

What Trump and his Cult members consider ‘wins’ – aren’t.

The damage Trump has done thus far is mere prelude – the worst is yet to come.

And yes, Trump’s disastrous return to power is the consequence of an America that has become dull-witted, short-sighted, willfully ignorant, apathetic, and stupidly indifferent.

 

[shockedcanadian]

Trump isn't to be blamed, those before are far more responsible for his rise so he has to correct problems from before his time. I remember him in the 1990s I believe considering running as a 3rd Party Reform Candidate. It didn't take off any more than the XFL did.

It's a reminder though that he KNEW the situation in the U.S wasn't as prosperous as it once was and if he sat down and analyzed why, I bet you the answer he might be drawn to repeatedly will be Chinas entry into the WTO. With that began the decline of the West, socially and economically.

As it were real answers in life require deep thought and time. Society wants quick fixes and "action". We are losing out ability to critically think to apply wisdom and learn from our elders.

There is a balance required because we see governments sometimes takes years to make decisions that should take a week. So there is thought and than there are grifters who benefit from going in circles but never making a decision.

Ultimately society has become collectively stupid. No particularly ideology is immune. Peoples brains are mush, emotional control is lacking, effort and patience has replaced instant gratification. This is where I believe RFK can really help out, he has to be willing to confront the special interests groups though and clean up the bad chemicals in foods. I've altered my diet dramatically and I'm glad I educated myself by perusing, comparing information coupled with my own understanding of my body. Trial and error in some cases.

I remember in high school a teacher told me to put on my resume that one of my hobbies is working out. I was skinny then but slowly put on a pound or two of muscle every month, along with strength of course.

She said something to me that which I never appreciated until after the moment she said it, a lightbulb went on "you should put it on because it illustrates dedication and patience". I never thought of this quality in the gym but it is true and over years my health benefited.

I've never looked for quick fixes in my life but I am probably in the minority today. Unfortunately our social media driven, 1000 ads a day society has altered us. Kids are born with a cell phone in their hands, their heads glued to it. They don't think for themselves, they learn to search or use A.I. They don't read books, aren't enlightened.

We are rejecting the lessons of the past that lead to happiness. Some of the younger generation are definitely understanding this, they'd love to have lived through the 1980s for instance. Arcades, no cell phones, no internet, people would knock on each others doors.

It's going to be really difficult to turn this back. Blaming this on Trump though is absurd. He contributed to perhaps some of the change in decorum, but, look at the last four years with open borders, allowing China to fly a balloon over the U.S, DEI and silencing opinions.

THAT is far worse than some mean tweets and rather low brow language Trump uses from time to time.

 

[blackhawk]