Two Americas suggested that I start a new thread with this post. I think highly of Two Americans, so I decided to do it. I was responding to this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4109518It is a good way to learn about supply and demand.
The supply side economists, investment managers and managers of multi-billionaire companies like the jet set author of all this information should all be fired and forced to sell potato chips door to door until they understand that the reason that ordinary Americans don't want their plans and promises is that ordinary Americans can't afford them.
A couple of years of selling potato chips door to door and the managers on Wall Street would soon realize that instead of rescuing hedge fund managers and investment bankers, Congress needs to give the liquidity to middle class Americans in the form of investment here in the U.S. in real jobs with decent wages, not just service sector make believe jobs. When ordinary people earn enough money to buy their kids school clothes, pay their mortgages and retire in peace, the economy on Wall Street will take care of itself.
Let's get back down to earth here. This problem started because people's wages were not high enough to pay their mortgages. It's not because the people were members of minorities. It's because they were poor, and they were poor not because they were unwilling to work, but because they could not get jobs that pay enough to live normal middle-class lives. America just does not have enough of those kinds of jobs any more.
This all started with Reaganomics. And until people like the guy that wrote these comments understand and admit publicly and loudly that Reagonomics is wrong, the problem will just get worse.
Remember the S&L crisis? Same scenario. Same emergency bail-out. This is the sequel. And it's even worse than the first time around. Just wait till next time if you think this is bad.
The guy who wrote the article in the OP fails to ask: What if this plan whatever it is called does not work? (And I don't think it will work in the long run.) What do we do then?
I get the feeling that guys like him are clutching at the idea of a plan, some magic wand kind of plan to add liquidity because they are scared of being poor like the rest of the country. They remind me of the alcoholic standing outside the bar begging for a dime to buy another beer. Their problem is their addiction, not the lack of a dime. Lack of liquidity in banks and investment is a symptom, not the problem itself.
The real problem is that the good American jobs have been outsourced. McCain and Obama are right when they praise the work ethic and productivity of American workers. But what good is all that virtue when there are far too few challenging, decent paying jobs. And don't talk about more education. Americans don't know much about geography or history, but they are better educated than their fathers and grandfathers who worked in the great industrial centers of America before the factories were emptied and the equipment shipped to China. (They are a lot better educated than the Chinese children and farmer's daughters who work in Chinese factories.)
I remember watching C-Span in the fall of 1985. Democrats in Congress were arguing against "free trade" with other countries. One of them predicted that if we entered into "free trade" agreements, the only work left for Americans would be selling hamburgers to each other. Well, that's all that's left folks unless you want to count the jobs unloading the Chinese imports and trucking them to Walmarts and Targets across the country.
Before the wave of sub-prime mortgage foreclosures, the best jobs for regular people were in the construction trades. Those jobs are now gone. The end of the housing boom also means a decrease in the sale of home furnishings and all the things that go with moving into new houses (granted all made in third world countries).
If the economy is to recover, people have to have jobs that pay well. We need a plan that revives American industry, American jobs, the American middle class. The Paulson bail-out even after congressional tweaking will not achieve those goals. Just watch, as soon as the American people rescue the banks and investment houses, the banks and investment houses will transfer the money overseas and outsource even more of our economy.
Americans will be left with huge bills to pay and no income with which to pay them.
This bail-out is like a huge consolidation loan. It will relieve the pain short-term but we will soon discover that our misery has only been delayed and prolonged. This hastily crafted consolidation loan will tie our hands. It's no recovery plan. It's the Enslave Middle Class Americans plan.
Watch taxes go up and wages (adjusted for inflation) go down with this "plan."
We need a plan to recover good jobs for middle class Americans, and not another dime for Wall Street. Give Americans good jobs and Wall Street will be fine.
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