Robyn E. Blumner: Don't forget how we got to this place

[teach1st]

Don't forget how we got to this place

By Robyn E. Blumner, St. Petersburg Times Columnist
In Print: Sunday, January 31, 2010

President Barack Obama did a fine job with his first State of the Union address. His basic theses were: The middle class is suffering. We must create more jobs. Banks have to pay more. Democrats and Republicans should get along. Nice. But to reignite a constituency for a progressive vision, Obama should be talking in broader strokes. He needs to articulate the historical arc of how we came to be living under today's economic conditions.

...

Stick with me for the connection, and for a fuller explication read John Lanchester's blistering and illuminating new book on the financial meltdown I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay.

Lanchester posits that capitalism won the worldwide beauty contest with communism and then no longer had to keep up appearances.

Through much of the 20th century each system was competing to demonstrate that it offered their citizens a better way of life. Western democracies did so by ensuring that the new wealth created by a dynamic market economy was equitably shared.

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[Dr.Phool]

1. Robyn Blumner: The only reason to read the St. Pete Times.