I get bored while jogging on my treadmill or stationary bicycle, so I often watch educational DVDs or listen to audio books. Perhaps a lot of you have seen the highly acclaimed documentary "Inside Job". It's an excellent, easily understood (and shocking) documentary that describes how the 2008 financial crisis happened. It's a must-see DVD, and is likely available at your public library.
One lesson from the documentary was that deregulation of the banking industry (coupled with human nature) was a major root cause of the financial crisis and subsequent recession. But guess what? Our legislators have yet to do anything substantive about it. They are still drinking the Koolaid that "less government regulations are always better". Even Obama has done next to nothing to either restore the banking regulations of the previous 50 years or to punish any bank executives for fraud. Most of Obama's (and Bush's before him) financial advisers are unfortunately the very same people who led the Wall Street firms that created the mess in the first place. Another reason for the inaction is the massive clout (read financial perks and donations) Wall Street has on Washington.
A recent article has a lobbyist for U.S. banks proposing to undermine the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters. Some may say, why should we even care? They're just a jumbled up assortment of street people, wackos, pot smokers, idealistic and misguided students, rabble raisers and...unemployed people, right? But most people also know--deep down--that these people are the canary in the coal mine.
Actually, the lack of jobs is not the fault of either political party...and there is no political solution either. The disappearance of middle class jobs is the result of advancement in technology and offshoring. And, I would add, our inability to stay ahead of other countries in terms of education. According to a recent report, out of 34 countries, the US ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science, and 25th (below average) in math on the 2009 exam. We may not be getting a lot dumber, but other countries are getting smarter.
We have millions of people who know how to do clerical, security, or industrial assembly jobs that don't require years of specialized education--but those jobs are either being sent to China or India, or they have been taken over by computers or robots. As this trend continues, we may find we have to use bread and circuses to pacify the majority of our population whose lack of skills render them economically "useless". In other words, this group of people could get a whole lot larger. And they could change from Tea Party wackos to radical socialists overnight, as their stomachs begin to growl.
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