I think Robert Reich has done a good job of being on the sidelines and watching and commenting on the economic disaster unfolding in slow motion. He certainly has credibility as far as I am concerned with his background as a former Democratic Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton. He along with Krugman, has probably attempted to do the most in regards to turning the national discussion from neoliberal austerity mongering to a deeper discussion of underlying cause and effect of why we are in the state we are in at this time.
Anyway, I read one of his latest columns The Hostage Crisis Continues - Why Obama Can't Pivot To Jobs and Growth
I would say it's enlightening, but not particularly hopeful.
I hope you read it - in a nutshell, the only thing that will save our economy is jobs, but there is no reason to foresee any real job growth in the future because the administration is now completely hamstrung and tied into the frame of deficit cutting with no foreseeable way out. We are a consumer society, and with continuing drop in demand, we will be stuck in a downward spiral.
His major point is that Americans need to be -re-educated about the hows and the whys of how we ended up in this place, but there is no one out there giving them alternate truths.
We need leaders who are willing to buck the accepted memes and frames that have been foisted on the American public by neoconservatives and neoliberals alike - that big, mushy, centrist, pragmatic Republican/Democratic morass that tells the poor, middle and working classes that they must sacrifice everything- jobs, wages, healthcare, retirement, education- in order for the upper classes to retain everything. It is only OUR austerity that is being promoted.
What we need are jobs with living wages. We need National Single Payer Healthcare. We need our social safety nets. We need leaders willing to work for the betterment of the lives of the many as opposed to the few at the top. We need leaders who will openly and bravely increase revenues by raising taxes and aren't afraid to say those words out loud and explain why they are necessary NOW. Otherwise, we continue to contract and shrink as a nation and as a people.
Robert Reich asks who will bring these new truths to the American mind that is in thrall to those who want to impoverish them? We can all start here and we can start now.