I'm not an economist, but it looks fairly obvious what's dragging the system down. When there aren't enough people who can afford to keep the system going, it has to collapse.
The talking heads repeat the same things, over and over. Cutting jobs is saving companies. Outsourcing gives the greatest value for the investor. The best and brightest deserve so much more than everyone else.
But what happens, when the corporate world has cut so many jobs, and outsourced so many others? Add in the outrageous energy prices, high rents and mortgages - What do you have left?
If you have a decent job, you're spending grows the economy. You've got enough to fill the gas tank, pay the mortgage, buy the products made by your neighbor. Your neigbor has enough to buy what you make. Your neigbor's purchases increase your company's earnings, and you get a raise, so you can afford to buy products made by the guy across the street. The more the collective makes, the more it can spend, creating more and more upward mobility.
Enter the 'world economy.' Your company gets rid of your job, for 4 dollar an hour labor in Mexico. The executives make out big, as they've saved the company big money. Now, you can't buy the products your neigbor makes. His company decides China is more efficient to produce, and cans him. Now, neither you, or your neigbor can afford to buy what the guy across the street produces.
Without jobs that allow us to afford each others' products and services, we slowly but surely erode the buying power of the collective. As that dries up, we're forced to take pay cuts, which means we can buy less and less.
Does this make any sense, or am I missing some rocket science? As the wealth disparity grows, doesn't the entire system suffer?