Jeffrey Sachs and I see the US economic situation in a very similar light. I could copy the entire article and say "I told you so" in one form or other in every post I made so far. As I have shown you, the story is all there in the FRED data. At least Sachs can recognize when there is a dragon in the room.
Here are few of the highlights.
"The structural problem is that America has lost its international competitiveness in basic industries including textiles, apparel, and several other areas of manufacturing. The production jobs are now in China, India, and elsewhere, where wages are much lower while productivity is more or less comparable to the US (and where production often involves US companies, using US
technologies, producing overseas and re-exporting to the US market). Only US college grads can resist the international competitive pressures; high-school grads have found the labor market fall out from beneath their feet.
America requires at least a decade of well-designed and well-executed national investments in people, infrastructure, and innovative technologies, in order to boost competitiveness and renovate the economy. Yet such an effort requires serious plans, careful deliberation, and higher taxation on deadbeat corporations and the super-rich. (Obama's endorsement of lowering corporate tax rates in return for ending loopholes augers poorly once again, since it invites yet another gimmicky tax negotiation in the interests of the rich.) The necessary professionalism of government and the shared responsibility of America's elites have proven to be elusive for the White House, the Congress, and both political parties."
I have noted in almost every post so far that the problem in the US is that the uneducated poor and middle class are being disenfranchised from the US Economy and that this will eventually provoke serious social unrest and destabilze the broader economy. If Congress and Obama were to read and adhere to Sachs advice, the US would go through a few rough years and then be back on a normal trajectory. Unfortunately, I am not optomisitc that US lawmakers will come up with such a plan in the year of a presidential election. As I said in a earlier post, trade sanctions seem much more likely than education reform and a comprehensive infrastructue plan.
Meanwhile the dragon gets bigger everyday.
Here are few of the highlights.
"The structural problem is that America has lost its international competitiveness in basic industries including textiles, apparel, and several other areas of manufacturing. The production jobs are now in China, India, and elsewhere, where wages are much lower while productivity is more or less comparable to the US (and where production often involves US companies, using US
technologies, producing overseas and re-exporting to the US market). Only US college grads can resist the international competitive pressures; high-school grads have found the labor market fall out from beneath their feet.
America requires at least a decade of well-designed and well-executed national investments in people, infrastructure, and innovative technologies, in order to boost competitiveness and renovate the economy. Yet such an effort requires serious plans, careful deliberation, and higher taxation on deadbeat corporations and the super-rich. (Obama's endorsement of lowering corporate tax rates in return for ending loopholes augers poorly once again, since it invites yet another gimmicky tax negotiation in the interests of the rich.) The necessary professionalism of government and the shared responsibility of America's elites have proven to be elusive for the White House, the Congress, and both political parties."
I have noted in almost every post so far that the problem in the US is that the uneducated poor and middle class are being disenfranchised from the US Economy and that this will eventually provoke serious social unrest and destabilze the broader economy. If Congress and Obama were to read and adhere to Sachs advice, the US would go through a few rough years and then be back on a normal trajectory. Unfortunately, I am not optomisitc that US lawmakers will come up with such a plan in the year of a presidential election. As I said in a earlier post, trade sanctions seem much more likely than education reform and a comprehensive infrastructue plan.
Meanwhile the dragon gets bigger everyday.
RSS Feed
