It Just Seems So Odd

[ThomWV]

Think about it; here we are, a country perfectly able to produce everything it needs. We have capable people, we have unused manufacturing facilities, we have raw materials. In fact while we waste tremendous amounts of energy (oil) we still have vast reserves of our own as well as all the conventional means of making electricity. We have an extensive transportation system, world class communications are universally available, and while our currency is of no great value to the rest of the world we are still more than happy to trade it among ourselves.

So tell me, why are we in such 'bad shape'? It can't all be the war, can it?

[magellan]

1. Sabotaged for the greed of a few. n/t

[Nictuku]

2. Corporate Profit Margins

[rosesaylavee]

3. Lack of Leadership and Vision. n/t

[OhioChick]

4. Corporations

are outsourcing/offshoring work.....so what is left to do here? People's homes are being foreclosed on, credit problems, etc....

We're in bad shape due to Corporations. No job = no money to spend.

[POAS]

7. An article in today's local rag

talks about realty agents taking people on bus tours of foreclosed properties.

The only thing I can think of is vultures circling.

[POAS]

5. Not just the war..to be sure

but the natural result of unrestrained capitalism.

The shift is always to the bottom line. The mantra used to be "make a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door" but those days are gone. The better mousetrap has given way to the better bottom line with investors trying for that next pot of gold.

We have all the resources we need to do it here, that is true. Except I'm afraid for the human resources willing to work for starvation wages because they are already starving. Unrestrained capitalism is bent on leveling that playing field.

[shraby]

6. That's true, but the vast majority who could and

would make good use of all the resources don't have the most important one to do it with...money...it's been hoarded by the top.

[liberal N proud]

8. It all became about profit for the share holder

Screw the rest and make a profit at all cost.

[ben_meyers]

9. It's the Deregulation, Stupid

Laws passed to prevent what led to the 1929 crash and subsequent depression, Glass-Stegal Act, were repealed in 1999. The deregulation of the financial industry has resulted in what we have today.

From Mother Jones, a must read.

Commentary: Democrats from Carter to Clinton helped roll back the government's regulatory power, but as the economic crisis deepens, "regulation" is no longer such a dirty word.

By James Ridgeway

March 28, 2008

Speaking at Cooper Union in New York City on Thursday, Barack Obama went where few Democrats have dared to go in the past quarter-century: He made a case for more regulation. As part of a speech on his economic platform, Obama depicted the current economic crisis as a consequences of deregulation in the financial sector. "Our free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it," he said. "Unfortunately, instead of establishing a 21st century regulatory framework, we simply dismantled the old one—aided by a legal but corrupt bargain in which campaign money all too often shaped policy and watered down oversight."

This is quite a statement from a candidate who's received $6 million in campaign contributions from securities and investment firms, just slightly less than rival Hillary Clinton, who cashes in at $6.3 million. Obama's criticism was sharp, but his six-point plan for rebuilding a regulatory structure was short on both details and teeth, and relies on the Federal Reserve, which is like having the fox guard, well, the other foxes. Still, his use of the r-word signals what is at least a rhetorical departure for a party that has been running from regulation for decades.

Obama isn't the only one. Last week at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, chair of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, also argued that years of banking deregulation were in part responsible for creating the subprime mortgage crisis and the larger economic downturn, which he didn't hesitate to call a recession. He talked about the need to impose more "discipline" on investment banks, requiring a higher level of capitalization and transparency. Frank called on Congress to consider establishing a "Financial Services Risk Regulator" that would have "the capacity and power to assess risk across financial markets" and "to intervene when appropriate."

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/03/deregulation-economic-crisis.html
http://www.streetsmartreport.com/school/Commentaries/My%202006%20Wish%20for%20the%20U.S.%20Financial%20System.html