The Entire Problem With the Economy in One Chart

[Donnachaidh]

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/06/13/the-entire-problem-with-the-economy-in-one-chart/



In the swing state of North Carolina today, President Obama announced some new ideas for job creation, including something called the Better Buildings Initiative. There are goals to achieve a 20% improvement in energy efficiency in commercial buildings by 2020, reducing businesses’ energy bills by $40 billion a year.

Great goals! So how are we doing that? Apparently through some minor tax incentives for commercial retrofits and competitive grants to states to alter their building codes in ways that encourage upgrades. Of course, with Homestar, a similar mix of tax incentives and funding for residential retrofits, stalled in Congress, I’m not sure how these commercial incentives get through. So mostly, this goal is allegedly achieved through “challenging the private sector to act.” And we all know how successful that can be.

I don’t know what more you can expect from a Jobs and Competitiveness Council made up mostly of the heads of multinational corporations.

But I also don’t see the point here in nibbling around the edges with nudges and challenges and races to the top and all the rest, when 15 million people are out of work, when 21 million jobs have to be created over the rest of the decade to return to pre-recession levels, when retirement security is so weak that many people will have to work into their 80s before they can retire, when worker’s share of national income has dropped pretty consistently for the last 20 years.

More at the link --

[OHdem10]

1. If you believe the government really cannot do much and it is really

up to the Private Sector, then you nudge and nibble.

The problem with nudge and nibble approach is you are
affirming the Republican Line--Only the Private Sector
can create jobs.

[Gregorian]

2. The notion of continuous growth is absurd.

I spent some time looking at that graph. It's not really explained well. There is no definition of what expenditure consumption is. But I can see the gap in dollars. The slope is the same, so spending is following a trend of growth.

What I see from this graph is that unless we follow the red line (which appears to be a theoretical rate of growth that we need to meet in order to avoid recession), we falter as an economy.

I don't want to write a book. But I submitted plans for a house I designed last November. Had I submitted it in January I would have been subjected to International Building Code regulations. And those are probably what this article is alluding to. Actually, it's even more difficult than that. Hmm, I am digressing. I could talk about how... Nope. Still digressing.

There's nothing more to say than this- In the numbers of humans that populate the planet, in combination with how we are using resources, we have a choice to make. Either we have a planet, or we have an economy. That's all I had to say. It's pretty much all bad news. Why do I waste my energy on this stuff? No one is listening. No one is going to alter their life in order to save the environment. Not in a truly meaningful way.

[GeorgeGist]

3. et al

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/PCE

[BR_Parkway]

4. 1st thing I see is recession ended early 2009 - so the princess kissed the frog

and they all lived happily ever after. What's next, alchemy?