No One has a Clue!

Walter Mead addresses an perspective on the economy that I have addressed often, i.e., the mess that our and the world economies are in are without a historical precedent. The number of factors that creating the mess and/or inhibiting creative responses are new. And, there is no one that has a clue to how to fix the problems.

Granted, politicians act as though they knew what would make a difference. I don't believe anyone of them. In fact, I am not convinced that any of the more academics have an answer that would work. Surely, that does not mean that certain responses will only make matters worse, e.g., how in the world does it make sense to give more billions in loans to Greece when there is no way that they will be able to pay back what they already have borrowed? Surely, our economy cannot develop as it should without reducing the unemployment rate significantly. But, how to create jobs is more problematic.

We are in the midst of a sobering set of problems. I lament that we do not have adequate leadership, but at the same time, I cannot be unrealistic. While Obama has been stymied by the Republicans, he has not provided a clear vision of how to address the issues. If he gave a coherent narrative, I would welcome it and feel as though it is possible to make things better. But, even though he seemed to be right in supporting the Green Revolution as a potential source of many jobs, this effort has been a failure for many reasons, not the least of which is that China's cost structure is impossible to compete against.

I do think that an Infrastructure Bank makes sense. Jobs will be created and who can question the need to renovate much of our infrastructure? After that, I am less than confident about the other ideas.