[quote=CA renter]The financial crisis has its roots in the trickle-down economic policies that began in the early 80s. The notion that we could reward speculation over labor, and somehow create a thriving economy from buying and selling things at greater prices and with higher debt levels was and is absurd. The idea that we could impoverish the majority of our population (by outsourcing their jobs) so that the capitalists who produce nothing could become wealthier and wealthier is completely ignorant and totally dismisses psychology and human behavior, not to mention simple math. A healthy economy will ALWAYS require us to actually MAKE things that can be sold here and abroad. A healthy economy requires JOBS for people so they can continue to buy goods and services from one another. There is no other way.
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CAR, not sure what you mean by the trickle-down policies of the 1980s, but assume it is the supply-side, incentive-based policies of the Reagan years: cutting marginal tax rates drastically, closing tax loopholes, and deregulation. The result, once the policies fully took hold in about 1984, was a rapidly expanding economy (7 & 8% YOY in some quarters, compared to 1% so far this year), a rapidly falling unemployment rate, and a steadily falling rate of inflation. American living standards and consumption increased accordingly, as we freely chose to buy more foreign-made cars, clothes, tools, and appliances made in factories where no American unions dictated work rules and pay. From your post, it appears you would like to limit American consumers to US made goods in the above categories. I wonder what prices we would pay, and what quality we would get. Do you really want to let Detroit have that kind of power over our car-buying public?
Free (or freer) trade is always disruptive. There are winners and losers. The losers are easily identified, vocal, and elicit our sympathy and that of the superficial mainstream media. The winners are the broader consuming public, who are far more numerous but not organized into a lobby with any clout.
Another winner is the US exporters, who capitalize on American advantages in certain goods with higher labor skills and costs than the rest of the world. Let the Indonesians and Indians do the drudgery of making shoes and shirts–our workers won’t go back to that job.
