In the last 15 years we have become far too selfish about investing in our country. We want a big defense and never contracting entitlements (we won't do even the basics like means test social security and medicare) and tax cuts. This much is obvious given what has happened in Washington and state capitals. Economists (and many others) know that we can't continue to ignore investing in our country. It cheats the future for the present in the most destructive way and as our soaring poverty numbers attest, the "future" is now.
Instead of searching for pragmatic solutions to our problems we are deep in the search for blame. Since the great recession especially we see posts constantly blaming the victims. The newly unemployed became the new undesirables and now there is magically a new generation "welfare witches." We see the narrative about "47% don't pay income tax, those lazy freeloaders"
I am not going to just blame the crazy right wing meme. The left have become so entrenched/focused on preserving existing entitlements at the expense of investing in the future that they insist on no changes to Medicare and Social Security. Don't cut healthcare to pay for student loans...are you sure? Is this a good idea? We aren't even asking the question, instead our politicians are lobbing accusations. I get that our tax system is screwed up and that it needs to change, but in the lack of such change (or the prospect for such change in the near future) maybe this is a good trade. Spending on healthcare is wonderful (I am all for single payer, emphasis on disease prevention, etc) but asking that no changes come to existing programs at the expense of future investment in education (not to mention R&D and infrastructure) is nothing but a race to the bottom.
We need to sort it out with an eye toward creating a better society...and here is the problem, we know what to do!
We know what makes our system thrive and the biggest thing we can do is collectively say enough blame, let's fix it. I know we are deep into this partisan divide, the media is insane, and the whole rigging the system for the rich through lobbying and buying elections are all in the way. This is the challenge - our entire media and political system is systematically divided us into camps, each blaming the other while the ship sinks. We know how to patch the hole, but instead we will collectively sit around and argue about how the hole got there. It is time to turn off the noise and insist on rational changes to rebuild our country, and that requires investing in education, infrastructure and R&D. We can never solve our poverty issues and create a more just society if we can't address these basics.