Thursday, July 8, 2010

Robert Reich: We're In a Recession Because the Rich are Raking in an Abusrd Portion of the Wealth

Reich argues:
http://www.alternet.org/economy/147469/we%27re_in_a_recession_because_the_rich_are_raking_in_an_absurd_portion_of_the_wealth/?page=entire
"Our economy can't thrive when the richest 1% get an ever larger share of the nation's income and wealth, and everyone else's share shrinks..."

Inequality and lack of opportunity are tremendous problems that do stifle economic development.

I am really getting tired of reading the elitist rants of zero hedge commentators regarding Keynesian policies or programs.

The people who launch into these anti-Keynesian diatribes really don't know what they are talking about.

I am not condoning the US military spending or the poorly targetted Obama stimulus plans.

Rather, the point I'm making is that Keyensian demand is not simply about government spending. The point of the Keynesian system is to temper capitalism's recurring crises (a.k.a. the "business cycle") and to ensure a more equitable distribution of societal rewards than would occur with unregulated markets (because markets tend toward monopolies and corruption).

Neoliberal apologists ought to take a look at historical accounts of 19th century and early 20th century labor conditions.

Keynesianism (and LABOR UNIONS) TRANSFORMED western Europe and the U.S. into nations with thriving middle classes until neoliberal attacks against labor and regulation wrought the conditions for our current recession.

I personally believe that Keynesianism has problems as a governing policy and is unable to address many of capitalism's contradictions. However, the laissez-faire policies advocated by the zero hedge and mish fans of the world are guaranteed to reduce US living conditions to those found in grossly unequal nations like Mexico.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the info....Recession is ending now....Due to recession , no. of bankruptcy filing is increasing day by day...Declaring Personal Bankruptcy

    ReplyDelete

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