snip
People go out and drink too much even though they know they will
have a hang over the next day. The major difference in this case
is that the people who are enjoying the party are not the ones
who will suffer the hangover (and have to pay the bar tab).

This is true, too...folks have a long history of
making bad decisions. The best we can do is try to make
better ones...and hopefully, learn from our mistakes before
the crisis gets so bad that we cannot survive.
snip
Major problem about learning from your mistakes [other than you
may not live to learn] is that from the perspective of the
decision makers these were excellent decisions resulting in
wealth for themselves beyond the dreams of avarice.

From the perspective of everybody else: the first major mistake
was letting these people get into and stay in their position of
power; the second one is letting them keep any of the money they
looted. [RICO anyone?] There is however there is a deeper
problem. In a line originally used about politicians, "they are
like cockroaches - its not what they carry off, its what they
fall into and spoil."

Conventional national defense considerations by themselves should
be enough to justify the retention of our basic manufacturing
capability, cadre and infrastructure.