Expectations......................Part one

     Worse, there is a retrospective disenchantment with the mood that motivated the effort and set the goals in the first place, back in the 1960s.  There is a chagrin at having been too enthusiastic about what could be accomplished.  There is disaffection toward those whose demands are insatiable and whose gratitude is inconspicuous.  Whatever the reason, there is a reexamination of policy, especially policy that reflects social obligation.  There is a retrenchment in the air and on the ballot, and second thoughts about what we can afford for ourselves and what we owe others.

-Thomas C. Schelling, from his 1984 book, Choice and Consequence:  Perspectives of an errant economist