We are halfway through this monster tome at least in chapters, but not in pages. It’s sometimes hard for me to keep up given my Left Coast Culinary Book Club deadlines and a busy life. But the fact that I write about each chapter every week helps give me motivation to keep going. Otherwise, I imagine I would re-prioritize other things and then I would lose track of where I am at and what is going on in the book.

For instance, when I read Tom Clancy’s “The Bear and the Dragon” (1024 pages) I think it took me over a year and I don’t remember a thing about it. I am pretty sure that I could re-read it and it would be all new to me. I used to be a real fan of Tom Clancy and I have pretty vivid memories of the first six novels but after that, I have no idea what happened in the series even though I read most of them (I think).

This chapter was rather non-remarkable in most respects. To date, this is one of the few chapters that really lacks hard hitting insight. The major event of the chapter is the Taggart corporate board meeting.

Because of supply chain issues, restrictive regulations and what I would call general mismanagement, Taggart Transcontinental is of course hemorrhaging money. This sounds familiar doesn’t it? As a general example, the customers want a rate cut because of service problems and the unions wants a wage increase. The government mediator is pushing for both putting the squeeze on Taggart that is already losing money.

I speculating that this chapter represents the high tide line of hope. It is clear that the financial prognosis is dire and Dabny is waxing poetically about how her grandfather fought the system to make Taggart Transcontinental what it is today. It feels like she still has some fight in her but these are the fantasies of delusion.

I suppose it is like all things that the problems or the outcome is starting to happen long before they are visible. Like a fatigue crack in an airplane or a series of missed deadlines from Theranos. One in and of itself is not necessarily a doomsday prescription but when they start to stack up or continue to grow without stopping, trouble eventually will follow.

Did you know what “Too Big To Fail” in 2008 actually meant? Yes, it was bank bailouts for the rich but this was really as it sounds. While I think they should have been left to fail, the truth is that this would have ruined this country’s economy. It would have been default on the federal debt, no credit, likely a new currency and probably a change in our standard of living. Make no mistake, the actions of “Too Big to Fail” saved the day for the short term future. But make no mistake, what it really did was pass the hot potato down the line.

I heard a quote the other day that says a society in decline always ends up increasing the number of laws. When any one society or TV program has ‘jumped the shark’ (another name for peaked) the only thing left to do try to mitigate the damage or protect yourself. This isn’t coming back to what it was. It’s just that when you are too close to a situation or in the middle of it, it is difficult to see what is happening.

End Your Programming Routine: Since this chapter was weak on concepts, I don’t want to turn these Friday chapter reviews into book reports. I want to analyze the themes of the chapter and apply them to current day events if possible. I think I separated the wheat from the chaff this week with a lot of threshing. So, I will keep it short this week because you deserve a break, dang it. Have a good weekend.