General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This, my friends, is far too typical for my generation. [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Trickle down economics? That theory alone did not push our economy into the shambles it is now in. The theory is just words.
Tax and welfare "reform"? They contributed.
But the big change, the change that sucked out our industry and our jobs was "free" trade. Is is the "free" trade that cost us our manufacturing base. The X generation needs to get its heads out of the clouds, forget about the cheap chique clothes and the I-phone craze and start buying American.
Buying American creates jobs in America. You can order American-made products on the internet. Buy foreign-made products only when absolutely necessary.
That is how you can improve the job market. That is how we all can improve the job market.
By the way, back in the 1970s, I was in a PhD program and dropped out because I could see even then that if I finished and got the PhD behind my name, I would be utterly unemployable. I was already over-educated. (One of the first things Nixon did when he took office after the 1968 election was to drastically cut funding for certain university programs. That eliminated college teaching and research jobs. Today, much of the university teaching is done by graduate students paid a pittance. It's a terrible shame, a scandal, truth be known. Nixon started the downhill slide.)
Even then, we had to move overseas to get a livable wage for our work.
If you can't get a job in the US, check on teaching English overseas. The money isn't great, but you can get experience and enrich your life in other ways.
I support Elizabeth Warren for president because she understands the economics that the middle class is struggling with -- the plight of PhDs in Microbiology is due to the fact that the Wall Street math whizzes are overpaid and too much of our energy is consumed by those who trade stocks and play with money.
We need to return our economy to the reality of providing clothes and cars and other things that fulfill the needs of our citizens.
International trade is great, but the cost of job losses should be shared by the wealthy as well as the former employees of the wealthy.