Archive for the Economics Category

The recent failures of many big names on Wall Street have rattled investor confidence but have little direct effect on average Americans. The big money boys have been playing their games for years and almost always winning. Now they’re losing one. It goes with the territory.

But governmental bailing out of Wall Street firms may ultimately cost a lot of money that would be better spent helping Main Street homeowners and small businesses. It’s tantamount to welfare for the super rich. And according to a recent Dallas News article, even many Republicans are now questioning the wisdom of putting the government on the hook for private investors’ excesses.

In an era when there are still naysayers who deny the problems the middle class is facing, it’s important to get the truth out—by telling it.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul newspaper Star Tribune is planning a feature on the issue, and is looking for real-life stories of middle class hardships.

If you have one, please let reporter Jackie Crosby know at jcrosby [at] startribune.com.

For more information, check out this article in the Star Tribune.

When it comes to talking about the problems facing Middle America, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VA) doesn’t mince words. On his Web site is a page entitled “The Collapse of the Middle Class.” How did he come to speak in such stark terms?

It all started when Sen. Sanders put an invitation on his Web site inviting his constituents to share their experiences in the current economy. The results shocked him. “I expected a few dozen replies,” he writes. “I was amazed, therefore, when my office received over 600 responses from all across the state, as well as some from other states.”

The Senator then took some of the letters and compiled them into an e-booklet.

Here are the conclusions he drew
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On both sides of the globe, it’s an open secret that thousands of U.S. jobs have been moved to low-wage countries, especially India. Here’s what the jobs look like when they arrive there:

And this is what is left behind in the U.S.:

Now, the people reaping the really big profits in India (not the employees themselves, but their bosses) are no fools. They know that the U.S. is a democracy, and that an election is right around the corner. Are they afraid that working Americans will assert themselves at the polls, and elect candidates who might attempt to rein in the permanent elimination of American jobs through outsourcing?

Apparently not. They know how our political system works, and that our ruling elites have no intention whatsoever of standing in the way of globalization. But they’ve expressed resentment that when hired as consultants inside the U.S., they sometimes have no choice but to hire American workers for American jobs.
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Two economists have released some highly dubious “research” stating that the ongoing influx of cheap labor from Mexico and other Third World countries hasn’t measurably affected American wages. In other words, they’re claiming that the law of supply and demand somehow doesn’t apply to labor. If Pinocchio were an economist, he’d surely be leery of trying to get away with a whopper like this!
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