It's The Economic Paradigm, Stupid!

[4dsc]

The economy is terrible. There aren't enough jobs. Most of the jobs that are still there are not paying enough for people to keep up, and people are afraid they could lose them tomorrow. So we all have too much debt. We have too little health care. We have too much stress. And in the bigger picture we have too little power to do anything about it.

They say we're reaching a "bottom" and that there are "green shoots." But I am afraid that this isn’t your father’s recession. I'm afraid this economy isn’t a pendulum that has swing too far in one direction, ready to be pulled by natural forces back to the other side. I am afraid that this isn't a "business cycle" pattern with a fall, then a bottom, then a recovery where all the shoppers return to the stores, all the jobs come back and growth picks up where it left off. Even "green shoot" optimists admit there will be few new jobs if there is any recovery.

It may be that we are not in a period of waiting for things to "get back to normal." Many people think that this economic collapse IS the return to normal.

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009073020/its-economic-paradigm-stupid

I don't see how anyone believes this economy will ever return to its glorious past..

[timeforpeace]

1. Paradigm is such a cool word.

And I too wonder if these are the good old days versus what's coming.

[Ghost Dog]

3. And "Economic Paradigm" is cool framing

of what is happening, which will provoke an Economic Paradigm Shift for both social and ecological reasons.

In a nutshell, I'm thinking: 'Money' is supposed to represent the value of things; but as a measure it is failing. The current economic paradigm rewards behavior, in money terms, that produces greater social and environmental costs than benefits - but mostly only the benefits are counted while the greater part of the costs go unaccounted for. In this way we consume the planet and we consume ourselves.

A reformed science of economics would consider not only carefully-measured quantities but also take into account the most vital social and ecological qualities that are enhanced or reduced by economic activity, and applied economics and therefore politics would then be able to impart some direction to the future wanderings of our human history such that simple 'more is better' wealth-oriented goals would be replaced by more subtle 'more of this but less of that' quality of life (happiness-oriented) goals - including, of course, long-term sustainability, social progress and general 'making sense'.

[AdHocSolver]

2. The economy will NOT recover until jobs are brought back to the U.S.

The economy will not recover until at least 80 percent of what we purchase is produced here in the U.S. The stimulus packages will do little good when 95 percent of what we purchase is imported from Asia. The stimulus money is propping up the Chinese economy, not ours.

The corporate cartel trade policy embodied in NAFTA, the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, as well as the corporate tax laws that enable corporations to avoid paying taxes by using offshore tax havens have to be changed to enable American companies who want to provide jobs for Americans a chance to compete.

Another fallacy that must be eliminated is that the stock market "drives" the economy. That is pure supply side economics, also known as Reaganomics and voodoo economics. All economies are demand driven. The stock market is a leech on an economy sucking up the wealth generated by the production of goods and services. The stock market is no more than a lottery or a gambling game, run currently by a bunch of thieves. Investor losses (specifically losses by middle class investors) are built into the system. They are designed to occur. (Google Ponzi scheme.)

[Wednesdays]

4. K&R

:kick: