08.04.11

The politics of the economy are upside down

Posted in Around The Nation, Commentary, Taxes, The Budget, The Economy, Unemployment at 11:45 am by wcnews

More corporate profits do not equal jobs. There are a few simple facts about our economy. The problem is demand. Too many people without jobs, and therefore money, and they can’t buy products. Until that changes, little positive will happen to our economy. From Al Gore on Countdown w/Keith Olbermann on Tuesday (BTW if you don’t get Current TV, this site posts links to Countdown video the next day):

Where the economy is concerned we should be talking about unemployment and getting people back to work. And where the agenda of the country is concerned we can’t just turn it over to corporations and the wealthy, the very idea that if you give more money to the people at the top they’re going to be job creators. Well the reason they’re not creating jobs is because they can’t sell the products that they make. And the reason they can’t sell the products is because the people of this country don’t have any money to but the products. We need to get the economy working in a pattern that helps middle-income families and low-middle income families and takes care of those who need government to be on their side and not giving in to the demands of the wealthiest and most powerful.

Great video from The Rachel Maddow Show last night. Where Jared Bernstein ended by saying this, “The economy is telling us a very clear message, it needs some kind of fiscal help. The politics are completely upside down telling us the opposite”.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here are many of the articles she referenced in the video:
Planned layoffs surge in July.
US company profits surge, even as economy slows.
Big Oil Companies Post Huge Profits On High Gas Prices.
World Markets Staggered by Weak Consumer Data.
Companies could see record profit — and double-digit growth.
Are We About to Repeat the Mistakes of 1937?
What’s missing from the debt ceiling debate? Jobs.

And here’s Paul Krugman from last night’s Countdown on what’s likely to happen in the future for the US economy.

Disastrous decisions have been made with regards to our economy for nearly on 40 years. And those decisions have hurt poor, working, and middle class Americans while the wealthy and corporations have made out like bandits. Depression era New Deal style policies have been mostly pushed aside, and the current economic state is owned by the centrists, corporatists, and wing nuts. And the way our politics are currently configured we’re unlikely to get the kind of policies our country needs until the current policies fail. Then once we go to a point where the wealthy and corporations, and the politicians they own realize there is no other choice, because they’re facing a revolt, will things change.

Watch this, it’s clear some things up.

“The Left” in America is gone and until it comes back little will change. Where we go now is an open question, What do we do now?

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