What Hit Us?

I am having serious doubts about our style of economy and for that matter our government. It results in extreme concentrations of wealth, income and power that ultimately leads to its own collapse. It happened in 1929 and it is happening today. But this time we will not have a world war to devastate everyone else so our economy can recover on top.

No job growth at all over the last 20 years. Declining real wages. The middle class was living off of credit that now is gone. Our government is broke. Take away all of the props and our baseline economy is probably only 80% of its former self. No one has any money with which to buy anything. I find it quite perverse that the limousine liberal elite class is practicing trickle down economics on a personal level. Maybe employment will perk up in the Hamptons.

Our future does not look bright. The concentrators of wealth now control both political parties. Greed is pervasive. Stimulus dollars are handed out in a crony fashion that would have made the first Mayor Daley proud. Al Gore is on his way to billionaire status because he invests in a company and, eureka, it gets federal grant funding. We throw away our seed corn. We should be using every available resource to become a more productive and competitive economy, but instead we build up deficit-funded government programs and create deficit-funded bureaucratic jobs.

We are on course to becoming a second rate nation. Our educational system is tragic. Our labor force is coddled and unaccustomed to hard work. You cannot find an employ under the age of 30 who is self motivated, capable of independent thought or who would dedicate themselves first to work, second to play. Our financial markets are bona fide zombies who cannot loan and cannot be trusted. Our natural resource base is stifled by pollyannas who think we can advance our economy with a windmill in the backyard and a solar cell on the rooftop. Our business regulatory system is such that it is hopeless to even consider building a new factory without years of environmental studies, community impact statements, litigation threats. Our nation and our economy simply are becoming increasingly corrupt, clogged and dysfunctional.

I have read much about China, their culture, values, motivations. My conclusion is that they are going to win. They will be the next superpower. When they decide the time is right, they will revalue their currency, display their true economic might and we will not know what hit us.