General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI don't buy that the fiscal crisis in 2007-2008 was caused just by the banks or homeowners
I believe it was caused by Republican policies and mounting huge Debt..I doubt very seriously that we would have had ANY recession or in fact even a downturn if Democrats (Al Gore) had controlled the Whitehouse during the last Decade.. This all stems from Republican deregulation and creating Debt and also creating a lack of trust from the financial institutions around the globe..People are learning Republicans simply can not be trusted.. Their word is no good..as evidenced by this new threat of Boner's to not allow the Debt ceiling to be raised..Republicans made a deal with Obama and are now whelching on that deal..Typical and I would be surprised if anyone thought they would act any differently.. You simply can not deal with Republicans, their word is meaningless..
RKP5637
(67,105 posts)their word is meaningless.."
Proud Public Servant
(2,097 posts)And Dems voted for the repeal by a 2-to-1 margin. I'm happy to lay all sorts of stuff at the GOP's door, including the state of the deficit and national debt, but the making of the financial crisis was a bipartisan affair.
Romulox
(25,960 posts)Romulox
(25,960 posts)That's the true cause of the "crisis", and this is the new normal.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Just the reimbursement for them. Reimbursement has gone down while demands & hours have gone up.
Romulox
(25,960 posts)Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)to jack up the work load of their existing workforce rather than hire more people.
NNN0LHI
(67,190 posts)Instead of unionizing and receiving better wages and benefits through collective bargaining people began using the equity from their homes as an ATM.
Unions have historically kept wages higher for everyone. Now everyone's wages and benefits are patterned after non-union workers.
This is Reagan's dream come true.
Here read this and see if this sounds familiar:
http://www.sociology.org/content/vol003.004/thomas.html
In order to reduce corporate taxes, it was necessary to reduce the size of the welfare state. This objective was carried out by the Reagan administration (Abramovitz, 1992). After taking office in 1981, the administration set out on a course to alter the (relatively) labor sensitive political economy to be more business friendly. Reagan appointed anti-union officials to the National Labor Relations Board, "implicitly {granting} employers permission to revive long shunned anti-union practices: decertifying unions, outsourcing production, and hiring permanent replacements for striking workers" (102). Reagan himself pursued such a policy when he fired eleven thousand striking air traffic controllers in 1981. Regulations designed to protect the environment , worker safety, and consumer rights were summarily decried as unnecessary government meddling in the marketplace (Abramovitz, 1992; Barlett and Steele, 1996). Programs designed to help the poor were also characterized as "big government," and the people who utilized such programs were often stigmatized as lazy or even criminal. With the help of both political parties, the administration drastically cut social welfare spending and the budgets of many regulatory agencies.
The new emphasis was on "supply side" economics, which essentially "blamed the nation's ills on 'big government' and called for lower taxes, reduced federal spending (military exempted), fewer government regulations, and more private sector initiatives " (Abramovitz, 1992, 101). Thus, to effect a change in the political economy, Reagan was able to win major concessions regarding social policy that continue today. By taking away the safety net, the working class was effectively neutralized: workers no longer had the freedom to strike against their employers or depend upon the social welfare system as a means of living until finding employment. Business was thus free to lower wages, benefits, and the length of contracts. The overall result was that the average income for the average American dropped even as the average number of hours at work increased (Barlett and Steele, 1996; Schor, 1992).
Don