> People that really understand political economy have a saying: “capitalism implodes into fascism.” That’s because it produces mass poverty, not riches, decline, not upward mobility — and the new poor then turn on everyone, neighbours, friends, allies, values, morals. If that sounds eerily like America today... then you should be able to see America tomorrow, too.
So much wrong in one paragraph. "People who really understand have this saying," so if you don't agree with the saying, you don't really understand. That's a nice little manipulative technique. Second, the saying sounds like it's saying that capitalism always does this, not that it's a failure more (maybe even the primary failure mode) of capitalism.
Then there's the sentence after the saying. Capitalism produces mass poverty? Nah, capitalism's not that great. It actually produces mass poverty more inefficiently than any other system. ;-)
But it's still a real problem. The US middle class is dying. The bottom half of the middle class is dead. I mean, they can still live like the 1950s middle class - a 1950s-size house, one car, very little eating out, no electronics, and a 1950s life expectancy. That's not very good for a first-world country with a great economy.
So: We were leading the world. Now we aren't. What broke? My guess: globalization. It's hard to have first-world wages when you have to compete with people making third-world wages. The result is that our lower middle class effectively do not have first world wages.
Not according to a 2014 Princeton study; the US is an Oligarchy:
“Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.”
So much wrong in one paragraph. "People who really understand have this saying," so if you don't agree with the saying, you don't really understand. That's a nice little manipulative technique. Second, the saying sounds like it's saying that capitalism always does this, not that it's a failure more (maybe even the primary failure mode) of capitalism.
Then there's the sentence after the saying. Capitalism produces mass poverty? Nah, capitalism's not that great. It actually produces mass poverty more inefficiently than any other system. ;-)
But it's still a real problem. The US middle class is dying. The bottom half of the middle class is dead. I mean, they can still live like the 1950s middle class - a 1950s-size house, one car, very little eating out, no electronics, and a 1950s life expectancy. That's not very good for a first-world country with a great economy.
So: We were leading the world. Now we aren't. What broke? My guess: globalization. It's hard to have first-world wages when you have to compete with people making third-world wages. The result is that our lower middle class effectively do not have first world wages.