Economic policy in the United States and Europe has failed, and people are suffering.
Economic policy failed for three reasons:
Policymakers focused on enabling off-shoring corporations to move middle class jobs, and the consumer demand, tax base, GDP, and careers associated with the jobs, to foreign countries, such as China and India, where labor is inexpensive.
Policymakers permitted financial deregulation that unleashed fraud and debt leverage on a scale previously unimaginable.
Policymakers responded to the resulting financial crisis by imposing austerity on the population and running the printing press in order to bail out banks and prevent nny losses to the banks regardless of the cost to national economies and innocent parties.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
If you haven't heard of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission you should. If you care about our massive trade deficit and U.S. jobs, this commission has written some absolutely frightening reports on China trade and security.
Tonight's movie is a long interview with the Commission member Patrick Mulloy, giving an overview on some of the commission's findings.
In November, the United States trade deficit was $38.3 billion and only shrunk during the global recession, where all trade slowed. Now Joseph E. Gagnon has new research, showing the trade deficit will come roaring back, wrecking havoc once again on the U.S. economy. Why? Currency manipulation in a nutshell.
If there is one report you will read on China, this is the one. The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission releases a report on China every year and it will make the hair on your head stand on end.
In reading Geithner's hearing testimony, we have this:
We have very significant economic interests in our relationship with China. With over 1.3 billion people and an economy continuing to grow at or near double-digit rates, China is our fastest-growing major overseas market. China’s record of bringing hundreds of millions out of poverty, building a rapidly growing middle class, and now its efforts to encourage growth led by domestic demand, ultimately mean more demand for American goods and services. Increasing opportunities for U.S. firms and workers through expanded trade and investment with China will be an important part of the success of the President’s National Export Initiative and our efforts to support job growth more broadly.
This is a work for serious minds that want to right this ship of state. But his book reads, for an economist or the inclined, like an in depth tell all about the Hollywood producer studio star system machinations would read for a movie fan. The free market free traders should be very afraid that you read it.
ABC News reported an interview with with Paul Krugman last week his opinions that:
"I would not be surprised if the official end of the U.S. recession ends up being, in retrospect, dated sometime this summer," he said June 8 during a lecture in London.
However, Krugman argues people didn't listen to his entire speech, which included dire predictions about lingering unemployment. "There's a big difference between the end of a recession, which is really only when some things start to turn up, and the return to prosperity," Krugman told ABC News. "I think what people don't get is the difference between the end of a recession in a technical sense and actual recovery, which matters to people."
In my opinion, Krugman is exactly correct. In this four-part "Big Picture" look at the economy as of Independence Day 2009, I will argue that:
You want to see some jobs? Take on 
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
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