In order to sell more books, magazines, subscriptions, and advertisements, the de facto Idiocracy must take certain factors for granted aka. the indefinite status quo.
Which provides the foundation for linear extrapolation of whatever dumbfuck idea is being proposed - from foreign invasions to tax cuts for the "ultra-wealthy". What none of these dunces seem to take into account is that the status quo is already insolvent, based upon third grade math.
The U.S. Federal debt has grown 9% compounded annually for 35 years now. People have wed their entire future to the assumption that it will continue to grow forever. Obama just deployed troops to Syria because raising the debt ceiling over and over again is his ATM machine. No responsibility to future generations required.
Linear extrapolation visualized:
What we face now is what is known as a "non-linear" event. Meaning that current asinine ideas and behaviours and the people wed to them, will go in one end and not come out the other.
Back in the 1960s and '70s, we extrapolated the U.S. space program into the future. Which led to many shows such as Star Trek, Star Wars etc. One show attempted to be a bit more modest and "realistic" in its future projections than the others. A colony living on the moon by 1999, which at the time seemed wholly plausible.
Suffice to say, no one at the time foresaw the U.S. manned space program ending in 2011. Though when we saw these special effects we should have known something was wrong...
