Reference Message Network reported on April 25 that the Spanish daily news website published an article titled "America's 'Lettuce Moment'" on April 17. The author is Maria Alvarez. The full text is excerpted as follows:
For decades, investors and the entire world have been watching the decline of the American model, and there are no signs of it being resolved.
A few years ago, Liz Truss became the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. Her term lasted 49 days during which she proposed various crazy plans and made numerous mistakes, ultimately forcing her to resign.
A British tabloid organized a live stream, placing a photo of Truss alongside a head of lettuce to see whether the lettuce would rot first or Truss would leave office first. In the end, the lettuce won. However, Truss's downfall cannot be entirely attributed to herself.
What we are witnessing across the Atlantic today is America's "lettuce moment." Trump is not the cause of America's decades-long decline but rather a symptom.
When Obama won the election in 2008, America was already mired in crisis. "Yes, We Can" was a slogan to inspire people to overcome pessimism, muster energy, and put the country back on track. The reality is that it didn't work. Perhaps because the political room for maneuver is sometimes limited, it's impossible to change the fate of a nation that has lost its foundation.
For decades, America has been the world's factory, but with America elevating the knowledge economy to a new dogma, its industrial base has disappeared. However, the knowledge economy model only works for part of society. Silicon Valley and Wall Street create wealth, but they cannot absorb millions of workers who once had stable jobs in factories in Detroit or Pittsburgh. The promise of technological innovation to bring prosperity to everyone eventually turned into an illusion.
Some envisioned America becoming a great "consumer republic," where citizenship would be defined by purchasing power rather than productivity. But this model proved unsustainable. Household debt soared, shopping malls stood empty, and the working class was deprived of decent jobs, relying instead on cheap credit to replace decent wages. Consumerism did not become an economic engine but rather a Band-Aid over a structural wound.
In the meantime, America's metropolises, once the engines of prosperity, have turned into monsters. Today's Los Angeles presents an extremely unequal scene: luxury communities are surrounded by homeless encampments, and the fentanyl crisis has turned a city into something it doesn't want to be. New York is no longer the creative hub of the seventies and eighties but a wealthier yet infinitely monotonous city where creativity has become irrelevant.
The promises of previous presidents were to save the country from danger. Biden may be the one closest to this goal, but he can only talk incessantly about returning to the industrial age of the past, which seems unlikely to be realized in reality.
The market has punished America, pushing up yields on American assets. This move reflects growing distrust among markets regarding the sustainability of U.S. government debt, with bonds appreciating while the dollar falls.
The current situation easily evokes Truss's "lettuce moment." Investors and the whole world have noticed America's decades-long decline, and there are no signs of it being resolved.
Compared to other countries, are Britain and America more of a failure? Have they been infected by some virus, leading them toward decay while others can remain immune? Not so. What sets Britain and America apart is that their historical processes of becoming industrialized nations and then post-industrialized nations began earlier than those of the rest of the world. However, it is foreseeable that all other Western countries will eventually follow the same path.
One question worth pondering: the Nordic model is for production, while the Mediterranean model should guide consumption to improve quality of life. Quantity or quality, expansion or restraint, efficiency or aesthetics—these two mindsets define two Europes. For centuries, these two Europes have strived for cultural unification, but it remains unachieved. The lack of cultural unification is the fatal weakness of our ancient continent. The young blood of the North brought about the Industrial Revolution, and now it must be perfected through the humanist ideals of the Mediterranean. (Compiled/Translated by Wang Meng)
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7497995103928156707/
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