[quote]entheogens wrote:
1)Factory Jobs got outsourced to places with sweatshop labor like China, Indonesia, etc.
The Right wing thermidorians on the list are going to blame the Unions. The truth is unions were built because laissez-faire capitalism treated workers like shit. In any case, no way an American worker compete against the shit wages of the Chinese worker.[/quote]
Companies outsource because we have driven the cost of doing business so high that it makes too much financial sense to not to outsource. That certainly includes Unions - who continue to choke the kinds of businesses that are being moved overseas with their ridiculous labor costs - but includes much more than Unions.
Try talking to a small business owner and asking what the biggest obstacles to success are - they’ll uniformly tell you: (1) punitive taxes and (2) overregulation.
Ever-increasing regulation acts as a barrier to entry for small businesses trying to grab a spot in the market - which is precisely why “big business” is not particularly enamored with changing the rules of the game.
You want to cultivate “Mom and Pop” stores? Free up the arena where they compete.
Odd, since this point is completely unrelated to the other topics you mentioned.
We are far from “trickle down economics” in this country - we are highly punitive towards the corporate sector, hence the outsourcing.
Our economic mess is a result of many things - not the least of which is the fundamental principle “if it feels good, do it, and if the consequences turn out bad, I expect society to act as my insurer and cover my losses”. That shameful tenet drives everything from the excesses on Wall Street down to the social libertinism of the hipster Left - and our society will have to sober up from this affliction before it gets any better.