If one looks at America from 1900 through 1990 we were the most powerful nation on earth. We had an economic structure that was filled with financial incentives for hard work and entrepreneurship. The harder one worked, the greater their rewards. There is one flaw in our system, and that is the fact that what makes people work also ruined the USA, Greed. Back in the early 1900's it was the greed of the manufacturing shops and businesses that pushed workers very hard for little pay. They fought back with Unions which was beneficial at the time, however the Unions became greedy and over time priced their personnel out of the market. Their demands and blackmails for more money and benefits pushed the workers pay beyond what it's true value was. Time passed and the workers were making a great wage however technology and infrastructure made it possible for the world to become one big economy and now our over paid workers were forced to compete against more than their neighboring towns for the work. It was greed of the CEO's from large companies that wanted to maximize profits for themselves and their shareholders by using cheap global labor. American workers were forced to compete against the 3rd world economies work force which was pleased to work for a couple dollars per day just to have a job. This process of exporting our jobs from america to other countries has taken quite a while and is still happening. No longer is America a manufacturing country, but we are a services country. We no longer build things, we purchase, consume and repair things.
While this was going on, our government continued to help its people by creating more and more social programs. Over time we have created a society where its not a shameful thing to live on the government when you are an able bodied person. The stigma to be a teenage pregnant girl is not a big deal any longer. Its rare to find a person in this era that takes pride in completing a days hard work. We have become accustomed to letting other people pull the load for us as much as possible. We have more people riding on the raft than rowing the boat at this point.
Our government is not immune to greed either. We hand them trillions of dollars to which they reply "that isn't enough". They tell us that we are hurting our children because they can't afford good books and decent mold free buildings because we aren't paying enough in taxes. Their "Revenue" stream isn't large enough. Simple math, at $12,000 per child in Portland using the all funds budget a classroom collects 300K for 25 children. Pay the teacher an average of 80K which includes benefits for the year and that leaves 220K left to pay for books, energy, maintenance, support staff and building. The math doesn't add up. Fiscal responsibility is lacking in our country and we are all paying the price. People have become accustomed to spending more than they make in a year. They use credit to accumulate things then use house equity to absorb their high interest credit card debt. Then they repeat the cycle. Greed from the CEO's in these lending institutions lent money to these people with the expectations that all house values would increase. Now that we have hit a recession and house values are declining, people are losing their jobs and defaulting on their loans. The banks that made loans to people they shouldn't have are on the verge of collapsing or being rescued by the government. The government steps in and spends a trillion dollars that it didn't have to keep several key companies from crashing and taking the whole economy with it.
Greed is at the core of all the decision that put us where we are today. I understand it, but dont like it. Who doesn't want to improve their position in life? Short term benefit lead to long term detriment.
Where now? We have a socialist president in office now that his basic principles is take from the rich and give to the poor. To take care of the people that choose not to take care of themselves. To provide medical coverage for every person in the US as a basic right. Oregon's unemployment just hit 9% and is climbing. Regan showed in the 80's that trickle down economics works. One stimulates the economy by allowing people to keep more of what they earn. Obama believes that the government needs more money and that people should pay more taxes. We'll economies survive on currency, currency flows and stimulates. If you remove the money at the source, strip it from the people that earn it before they can spend it then the economy slows. Less money is spread around for other people to earn and pay taxes on.
Greed is good for an economy if it is monitored and regulated. When the incentive to be greedy is stripped away by socialism then america becomes just another european union. I hope that doesn't happen, but I fear it will.
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