Still no jobs. Still no demand.

U.S. stock index futures open down sharply this morning on news of poor job creation. The usual politicians will point at the president and claim it is his fault. I beg to disagree. The problem with the economy is the result of thirty years of economic sabotage by the neoliberal economic mindset that got it's start in the early 1980's and the "Reagan Revolution". Those were the times when it became fashionable to attack the unions and to make people work for less. After decades of lower wages, decreased benefits, the offshoring of manufacturing in the search for even lower paid workers, and constant economic stimulus each time there was the threat of a slowdown we find ourselves as individuals and as a nation deep in debt.
The jobs are the thing. The neoliberals, if you aren't aware, are the supply siders. They think that if wages get low enough business will create jobs. I am a demand sider. I ask, why would any businessman create jobs if there was no market for the things those jobs would make? And if there is a push all over the world to cut the wages of the people, how do we expect them to buy stuff?
If science and technology devises ways of saving labor and therefore cost of production who gets the benefit of those increases in productivity? The business owner gets those benefits in a world that will not give a worker a raise in pay. But who buys the things that a business will make or sell? Workers.
Henry Ford paid his assembly line workers more than his competitors. Because he could. And because he wanted his workers to buy his cars. It worked. The years when labor was strong were the years when things were good.
Debt is not working anymore. The workers and the middleclass went deep in debt in order to keep their standard of living where they thought it should be. The limit to debt has been reached.
The baby boomer generation is looking at retirement with not enough to live on. We are in saving mode now. But our retirement funds are in the stock market. Because that is where Reagan and the business interests wanted us to be. So we all have a vested interest in keeping stock valuations high. Isn't that convenient. We all have a vested interest in keeping corporate America profitable so their stock price stays high and so we have a nestegg. (But how do we cash it out?) So we are all susceptible to the talk that panders to business. We will vote to cut taxes on business even as that means our public benefits will get smaller. We will vote for politicians that want to do away with the minimum wage in an effort to bring our wages down. So that business stays profitable. We will vote for those who want to do away with our social safety nets. Social Security and Medicare are in their sights. Anything to cut taxes on business and give them next quarters profits. But where does it end? If the whole world is intent on cutting the share that workers receive where does the demand for goods come from? And what is the purpose of an economic system if not to facilitate the distribution of goods to as many people as possible. What is the purpose of any political system if not to facilitate the distribution of prosperity to as many as possible? If money represents wealth how come so many are intent on keeping that wealth in the hands of the few? And who is supposed to buy stuff if not the people? The race to the bottom is coming to an end. The whole world wants to sell stuff to Americans. Everybody can't be a net exporter. Somebody has to import!
Instead of the failed policy of cutting the workers wages maybe we should look at it from the perspective of getting as many people as possible more of the benefits of a modern economy. The money is out there. It is just in fewer and fewer hands. And they won't let go without a fight.
I suspect that we will have to let things get much worse before we, as a nation and as a world, will have the collective sense to take back what we once took for granted. I only fear that we will be led astray by demogogues and fearmongers and our search for scapegoats.

When will we see?