Paul Krugman today once again voices a view sanctioned by many that our problems are essentially related with the lack of jobs, meaningful jobs at that, that will increase the demand for goods that will create revenue that will support services that are essential to our well-being etc. etc.
Others, without giving voice to the tea baggers, focus on our deficit and the need to reconstruct our economy so that our nation's output (services) better matches its input (revenue).
Both have a point that one can easily support, except it is hard to believe that the consequences of one approach will be commensurate with the other. It seems inevitable that one approach will work and the other won't.
What adds fuel to the fire is the fact that new jobs are not providing workers with sufficient pay to support an middle class life-style. We do live in a country where food, utilities, transportation, housing, education are expensive. While finding a job is important, it is also depressing when the new job pays half as much as the prior job. It is important to recognize that "hidden implications" of the decline in wages for the middles class and, of interest, the potential "political implications" for Obama. Jobs alone will not suffice; they have to earn a level of income to support a moderate life style associated with the middle class.
This is the problem that really frustrates me. I do not see how our nation can maintain its standard of living without a middle class that has sufficient wealth to support our historical life-style. Joseph Stiglitz speaks eloquently to the distortions when the top 1% own such a large proportion of both income and wealth.
And, what really frustrates me is that I cannot figure out where those jobs will come from!
For those who think that bringing back jobs from over seas is magical thinking. Even if one could imagine such a transfer of jobs, they surely would never command the salaries that they demanded prior to their original transfer overseas. We will be getting new industries, but it is hard to imagine another massive employment engine coming out of the "clean energy" industries comparable to the auto industry. There surely will be some innovative technology emerging, but they seem to always demand fewer and fewer "middle class" employees. The focus will be on lower wages.
Krugman does not deal with the reality that "more jobs" will not be comparable to the "jobs" that previously existed.
The other side focusing on deficits does not address the lack of wealth and its implications for our nation's future.
What to do?
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