Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Yeah, I grew up in a single income family and thought it was great. Then again, McDonalds was a once a year luxury because it was expensive "eating out". Nowadays we complain that McDonalds is all poor people can afford. The local pizza chain is always busy on the 1st when food stamps are distributed.
Women entering the workforce has a lot to do with stagnant wages. This goes back to economic theory... that when the supply of workers goes up, the value of labor goes down.
Here's the unemployment history, and we're at a near all-time low. If you can't make it in the US, you can't make it anywhere.
The drug and suicide problem has more to do with a crisis of meaning than it does a crisis of economy. Those comparatively low well off are angry that they aren't better off and those that are well off are depressed that their achievement hasn't made them happier, or that they aren't at the very top. These all have to do with having wrong values and a lack of meaning.
We have structural problems (there's always room for improvement), but the real problems are always much more difficult than "not enough money". That's a symptom, not a cause. |
I only finished 'Zombie Economics' this morning.It will take me until next weekend to transcribe my code from the book into usable form.
Some major themes that did stick out:
Free market capitalism has a very poor record for performance.
TheTrickle down hypothesis has no evidence to support its claim of superiority.
Privatization has failed in all large scale experiments,leading back to nationalizations.It has never successfully competed against public-owned enterprises.It's structurally impossible.
Market liberalism is a failure except for small to medium enterprises,and only if there are enough competing companies on a level playing field.
The US economy has never been as good as when it was a socialist/capitalist hybrid mixed-economy,between 1945 and 1973.
The Tea Party has done nothing except to support the very people they're rebelling against.
You might find a more stupid economy than the US economy,but maybe not.