Stimulus, Schmimulus – We Need Jobs to Build a Sustainable Economy

…In reality, the U. S. economy will falter for many years unless a government-led reform recognizes new economic and environmental realities and confronts the challenges before us. We can return to full employment by creating jobs that lay the foundation for shared prosperity, or we can wait for the captains of capitalism to rescue us under the same trickle-down paradigm that has failed so spectacularly. Facing peak oil and global competition for scarce natural resources, we must repair and reform the physical and intellectual undergirding of our economy to build a broad base of prosperity.

Why the Old Economy Can’t and Shouldn’t Be Revived

False optimism for a quick recovery ignores the fact that U. S. economic growth from the Reagan era through 2007 was built on weak foundations. That economy could best be described as “bubble-licious.” The media touted periods of rapid growth of GDP, but most workers knew that their own economic situation was stagnant or sinking. Instead of good times, we actually experienced a series of overvalued assets leading to bailouts, including:

Huffington Post