The Clinton era economic boom of the 1990s was a time of prosperity for some but few seem to realize that growth usually comes at someone else's expense.
I chuckle as I engage in conversation and read so many commentators who
suggest the poor need to quit clamouring for higher wages and just work toward
getting more education. That's a great idea for some but it won't work for all.
The whole system is predicated on the fact that there is a
mass of cheap labour at the very bottom. There must be a pool or poor working
class people that work for wages that they cannot live on. Without this,
consumer prices would skyrocket and the consumer-based US economy would crash.
Not all growth is good. During the 1980s as the unions were broken and the Northeastern tier of the United States began to rust, corporate growth in terms of profits and stock values meant tremendous losses for other people. Growth was good for some and not so good for others.
How many conservatives have I heard that talk about the
booming 80s but then admit that they personally didn't experience it?
During the 1990s the Clinton administration opened up the
economy to Globalization and once again the stock market grew... but that
growth proved painful for others.
The influx of capital didn't exactly trickle down but a new
domestic industry grew up... the tech sector and with it the Dotcom bubble. The
upper and upper middle class grew and it created a large demand for low-wage
service sector jobs that provided little or no benefits.
Unemployment figures came down.... but was the progress
real?
People were working but their wages had been cut. If it were
not for the credit boom and the cheap goods from overseas, they wouldn't have survived
at all. The price for all this... would be paid later.
The rich grew richer, some of the middle class attained
wealth and then lost much of it in the stock market hiccups and crashes.
But a lot of middle class people dropped down and the poor
lost even more. So-called Welfare Reform made life even harder for many of
them.
The crime bill of 1994 which has recently made the news
increased the prison population by hundreds of thousands.
That's one way to get unemployment figures down! Lock them
up.
Our economy has been transformed since the 1980s. It wasn't
a recovery, it was a new paradigm. The new model meant massive wealth for those
with investments and members of the upper class. But in order for this to work
the previous industrial model had to be destroyed.
Reagan got the ball rolling and Clinton the supposed liberal
simply turned up the volume and the let the new architects have free reign. His
successors have only continued this trend while feeding a new economic sector
which is in reality a social parasite... the new Security Complex birthed by
9/11.
Our economy has been something of an illusion for several
decades. It's real, viable, wealthy and powerful but the disparity is growing
and the cracks are getting wider.
So far the Establishment has been able to plug the holes,
play smoke and mirrors and keep the machine going.
The bigger the empire the more fragile it becomes.
Contrary to some, I don't believe the Establishment wants it
to collapse. Far from it. But their own greed knows no bounds and they will
take it to the edge of the cliff in order to squeeze out some more profits.
Eventually the momentum will be so strong it will get away from them.
So much of our economy depends on feeling and perception.
This is the nature of a consumer economy. As long as people 'believe' the
economy is strong they will spend their money and the machine keeps chugging
along. A little fear is helpful to the power-elite. Too much will crash the
whole system.
We are being propagandized. Unemployment figures are
manipulated but I think this surpassed when it comes to inflation. The Federal
Reserve and the Treasury keep insisting inflation rates are within the
margins... they of course want a small and consistent inflation rate. They
don't want people parking their money in the bank or hiding it under the
mattress. Inflation drives you to invest your money in the markets.
However if you pull out your household files and revisit
your utility bills from a decade ago, the inflation rate is staggering. Most
costs have doubled. Gasoline has obviously more than doubled. As someone
involved in the building trade I can attest to the fact that many costs have
tripled and quadrupled.
My wife and I were talking about the late 1990s and early
2000s. We made far less money then and yet at times it seemed like we weren't
as tight as we are today. It's hard to come up with hard numbers and percentages
but I can say with absolute confidence the statistics provided by the
government do not reflect reality. They are leaving out and excising key data
indicators, manipulating terms and time frames and doing whatever they can to
get the numbers they want.
The system has to grow or die.
For many this is basically economic orthodoxy.
For some this has even become theological orthodoxy.
This needs to be examined and reconsidered and I insist that
all growth is not good and one man's growth is all too often at the expense of
someone else. Economic sectors do not possess the ability to grow infinitely.
CONTINUE READING PART 2
CONTINUE READING PART 2