
Episode 222
How the US Navy Creates Prosperity & Why We’ll Miss It | Gregg Easterbrook

Episode 222
Gregg Easterbrook
How the US Navy Creates Prosperity & Why We’ll Miss It | Gregg Easterbrook
summary
In Episode 222 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Gregg Easterbrook. Gregg was a staff writer, national correspondent, and contributing editor at The Atlantic for forty years and has authored thirteen books about a variety of subjects including climate change, globalization, philosophy, and American football.
Demetri and Gregg explore the subject of Easterbrook’s latest book, “The Blue Age.” They discuss the extraordinary transformation of the international trading order that we’ve been living through over the last seventy years and the unique role that the US Navy and advancements in naval architecture and marine engineering have played in making all of that possible.
It’s difficult to appreciate just how unprecedented this long period of peace on the oceans has been and how extraordinary the deflationary pressures are that this peace has unleashed. It has also had huge implications for the expansion of credit, the reduction of volatility, and the growth in asset values in Western markets—topics that we’ve explored from a variety of different angles on the Hidden Forces podcast. What it might mean for our economies and for our lives if the Blue Age comes to an end is a question that is addressed directly during the first hour of today’s episode.
In the second half of today’s episode, which is available to premium subscribers only, Gregg and Demetri focus on the economic and geopolitical aspects of the Blue Age, the likelihood of conflict on the high seas, the incentives for and against it, and its consequences for the global economy. They also discuss some of the factors driving the current bottlenecks in global supply chains, the shipping industry’s contribution to this, and why Gregg feels that those bottlenecks will be largely resolved before the end of next year.
You can access the second part of this episode, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week’s conversation through the Hidden Forces Supercast Page. All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
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Episode Recorded on 11/30/2021
bio
Gregg Easterbrook is the author of thirteen books, most recently The Blue Age and It’s Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear (2018). He was a staff writer, national correspondent, or contributing editor at The Atlantic for nearly forty years. Easterbrook has written for The New Yorker, Science, Wired, Harvard Business Review, the Washington Monthly, the New Republic, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. He was a fellow in economics and in government studies at the Brookings Institution. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Nam Metrodorum non puto ipsum professum, sed, cum appellaretur ab Epicuro, repudiare tantum beneficium noluisse; Atqui reperies, inquit, in hoc quidem pertinacem; Restincta enim sitis stabilitatem voluptatis habet, inquit, illa autem voluptas ipsius restinctionis in motu est. Quo modo autem optimum, si bonum praeterea nullum est? Sed hoc sane concedamus. An me, inquam, nisi te audire vellem, censes haec dicturum fuisse?
De malis autem et bonis ab iis animalibus, quae nondum depravata sint, ait optime iudicari. Quis suae urbis conservatorem Codrum, quis Erechthei filias non maxime laudat? Restatis igitur vos; Conferam tecum, quam cuique verso rem subicias; Si quidem, inquit, tollerem, sed relinquo. Aut unde est hoc contritum vetustate proverbium: quicum in tenebris? Consequatur summas voluptates non modo parvo, sed per me nihilo, si potest; Tum ille timide vel potius verecunde: Facio, inquit.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quos nisi redarguimus, omnis virtus, omne decus, omnis vera laus deserenda est. Sed vos squalidius, illorum vides quam niteat oratio.
His singulis copiose responderi solet, sed quae perspicua sunt longa esse non debent. Negat enim summo bono afferre incrementum diem. Quod iam a me expectare noli. Hoc positum in Phaedro a Platone probavit Epicurus sensitque in omni disputatione id fieri oportere. Me igitur ipsum ames oportet, non mea, si veri amici futuri sumus. Polycratem Samium felicem appellabant. Omnia contraria, quos etiam insanos esse vultis.
De maximma autem re eodem modo, divina mente atque natura mundum universum et eius maxima partis administrari. Cum id quoque, ut cupiebat, audivisset, evelli iussit eam, qua erat transfixus, hastam. Claudii libidini, qui tum erat summo ne imperio, dederetur. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Iam doloris medicamenta illa Epicurea tamquam de narthecio proment: Si gravis, brevis; Haec igitur Epicuri non probo, inquam.
Nam si amitti vita beata potest, beata esse non potest. Qui autem de summo bono dissentit de tota philosophiae ratione dissentit. Id enim natura desiderat. Quo modo autem philosophus loquitur?
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc omni virtuti vitium contrario nomine opponitur. Quis est tam dissimile homini. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Vide, quaeso, rectumne sit. In quibus doctissimi illi veteres inesse quiddam caeleste et divinum putaverunt. Haec et tu ita posuisti, et verba vestra sunt. Urgent tamen et nihil remittunt. Est enim effectrix multarum et magnarum voluptatum. Isto modo, ne si avia quidem eius nata non esset.
Simus igitur contenti his. Ego vero volo in virtute vim esse quam maximam; Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus. Ut in voluptate sit, qui epuletur, in dolore, qui torqueatur. Idem etiam dolorem saepe perpetiuntur, ne, si id non faciant, incidant in maiorem. Eam tum adesse, cum dolor omnis absit; Quid enim?
Nam si beatus umquam fuisset, beatam vitam usque ad illum a Cyro extructum rogum pertulisset. Esse enim quam vellet iniquus iustus poterat inpune. Quam nemo umquam voluptatem appellavit, appellat; Verba tu fingas et ea dicas, quae non sentias? Licet hic rursus ea commemores, quae optimis verbis ab Epicuro de laude amicitiae dicta sunt. Eam tum adesse, cum dolor omnis absit; Ac tamen hic mallet non dolere.
Quaerimus enim finem bonorum. Semper enim ex eo, quod maximas partes continet latissimeque funditur, tota res appellatur. Sed fac ista esse non inportuna; Certe non potest. Mihi enim satis est, ipsis non satis. Quod quidem nobis non saepe contingit. Quo modo autem optimum, si bonum praeterea nullum est?
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Erit enim mecum, si tecum erit. Utrum igitur tibi litteram videor an totas paginas commovere? Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Qui-vere falsone, quaerere mittimus-dicitur oculis se privasse; At ille pellit, qui permulcet sensum voluptate.
Primum in nostrane potestate est, quid meminerimus? Nam quid possumus facere melius? Quod non faceret, si in voluptate summum bonum poneret. Quam nemo umquam voluptatem appellavit, appellat; Familiares nostros, credo, Sironem dicis et Philodemum, cum optimos viros, tum homines doctissimos. Nondum autem explanatum satis, erat, quid maxime natura vellet. Quo igitur, inquit, modo? Qui autem de summo bono dissentit de tota philosophiae ratione dissentit. Unum nescio, quo modo possit, si luxuriosus sit, finitas cupiditates habere. Ergo ita: non posse honeste vivi, nisi honeste vivatur?
Sed in rebus apertissimis nimium longi sumus. Voluptatem cum summum bonum diceret, primum in eo ipso parum vidit, deinde hoc quoque alienum; Nec vero sum nescius esse utilitatem in historia, non modo voluptatem. Etsi ea quidem, quae adhuc dixisti, quamvis ad aetatem recte isto modo dicerentur. Illa tamen simplicia, vestra versuta.
Ego quoque, inquit, didicerim libentius si quid attuleris, quam te reprehenderim. Tecum optime, deinde etiam cum mediocri amico. Unum nescio, quo modo possit, si luxuriosus sit, finitas cupiditates habere. Conferam tecum, quam cuique verso rem subicias; Cave putes quicquam esse verius. Sed residamus, inquit, si placet.