Does 2021 = 1980?

The Perch Perspectives team has published an absolutely spot-on take about what happened in Texas (with the freeze and the electricity) and the response, and why the same thing is and will happen in the rest of the county.  I've pulled some choice quotes (and links) from the article:

"The ERCOT grid has collapsed in exactly the same manner as the old USSR. It limped along on underinvestment and neglect until it finally broke under predictable circumstances."

"Remarkably, despite the tragedy and the incompetence and the excuses, we can’t even agree as a community on what is truly wrong."

"US infrastructure sucks. The richest, strongest, most technologically advanced, and geopolitically blessed country has terrible infrastructure. Texas is bearing the brunt of it today, [but Texas isn't alone in this]"

"Third, U.S. politics is so broken and partisan that none of these issues ever get solved."

"U.S. incompetence is also alienating Mexico, the country it is arguably most important for the U.S. not to make an enemy out of."

"The biggest threat to the United States of America is the United States of America."

"If you look at the U.S. on paper, it is hard not to see anything but a global superpower. If you look at the U.S. from the bottoms-up, however, the U.S. is behaving like a hulking, sclerotic, deteriorating power"