Can we fix this broken economy? What needs fixing and what is the prognosis.
In the economic crisis of the 1930's, FDR could put people to work building public infrastructure within just a few months of making the decision. Out of work men were employed at low labor rates building roads, bridges and public spaces. Today, you can't build infrastructure like that. Mandatory high union wages, permitting delays, lawsuits and bloated government stand in the way. Stimulating the economy by financing construction programs have yielded little for the investment. It is the vested interests that pay for political campaigns that are put before the public interest and the economy suffers.
You can't export your way out of this mess because trade negotiators have caved to China's strategy of conquering global markets systematically. Whether it is their willingness to exploit their people, ruin their environment or steal patents and designs or subsidize industries to enable them to overwhelm foreign competition. China also won't trade fair. Foreign companies are not allowed free access to Chinese markets. China is dead set to take markets from developed countries. Washington is impotent in the face of such a determined effort to take our hard earned advantages away.
You can't increase employment if large companies in the US continue to replace workers here with workers in Asia. There has been virtually zero increase in hiring by large companies this year. The entire gain in jobs can be attributed to mid and small size companies. Washington will say nothing about this. Big companies are their sponsors.
An economy that pays too much for health care is going to go bankrupt and isn't globally competitive. The US pays twice as much as other developed countries and has worse health statistics. You can't change that when politicians obfuscate the issues in favor of the interests that finance their election campaigns. The trial attorneys, the for profit practitioners, the drug companies that get their highest profit margins in the US and the unions get first consideration in policy making and are among the biggest campaign contributors in America. Health care costs are sapping government budgets and hurting employment. This is probably the most under appreciated economic issue in the country.
The Democratic Party's largest contributors are the Teachers' unions. With the policy makers on the hook to the teachers, is it any wonder we have the most expensive public education system in the world and the one that provides the very worst performance for dollars spent? Employers are complaining, graduates are not well prepared to work and don't have the necessary skills. Despite spending vast sums, drop out rates are outrageous. Outcomes don't matter to policy makers or the unions, but the market place does care and the US is suffering as a result.
The US can't isolate itself from the political problems of the world. So when you consider that foreign military ventures are "Diplomacy by other means", you realize that we are blowing an awful lot of money. We should ask ourselves, can't we be achieving more by improving our spies on the ground, our diplomatic skills and capabilities and cheap soft dollar endeavors economic development projects like health and education assistance abroad. One single F-16 squadron on operations for 2 -3 months will cost more than a whole year of soft diplomacy for an entire developing country. Which is smarter? Which creates the most good will? Which can we afford? Our military entanglements have been mismanaged by the politicians. The goals have been off the mark and the stories peddled to the American public have been disingenuous about the real costs of war.
