Monday, September 10, 2007
U.S. Economy in the Tank?
Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan, is one economist that I have cited on VOLCon several times, usually because he's right on the money.
In his latest column, he takes apart the myth that the American economy is doing just fine, as many in the media would lead us to believe. If there is anything one should take away from his column, it's the point he makes (and other have made many times) about the trumped up unemployment figures.
Roberts comes at this from a macro point of view. I suppose I am in this from a micro perspective, as I am concerned as to why each individual (and I encounter them every day in court) in our current society doesn't see anything wrong when they proudly claim themselves to be drawing disability from the government and no longer seeking employment - many of them in their 30s or younger. (In a good deal of these cases, these people aren't anywhere near what our forefathers would have considered to be "disabled." The truth is that they choose not to work and instead live off of all of those that do work.)
Social Security Disability has become the 21st Century Welfare. In the 1990s, we changed the name, but we didn't fix the problem. I saw a statistic a few weeks back that sadly stated that 52% of all Americans are drawing some sort of government assistance. It doesn't take a PhD in economics to know that a society can't maintain positive growth with that ratio of people relying on the government for their needs.
We have a harsh economic reality coming our way in America. It is going to take real leadership - both in the areas of policy and inspiration - to steer us away from our debtor nation status.
In his latest column, he takes apart the myth that the American economy is doing just fine, as many in the media would lead us to believe. If there is anything one should take away from his column, it's the point he makes (and other have made many times) about the trumped up unemployment figures.
Roberts comes at this from a macro point of view. I suppose I am in this from a micro perspective, as I am concerned as to why each individual (and I encounter them every day in court) in our current society doesn't see anything wrong when they proudly claim themselves to be drawing disability from the government and no longer seeking employment - many of them in their 30s or younger. (In a good deal of these cases, these people aren't anywhere near what our forefathers would have considered to be "disabled." The truth is that they choose not to work and instead live off of all of those that do work.)
Social Security Disability has become the 21st Century Welfare. In the 1990s, we changed the name, but we didn't fix the problem. I saw a statistic a few weeks back that sadly stated that 52% of all Americans are drawing some sort of government assistance. It doesn't take a PhD in economics to know that a society can't maintain positive growth with that ratio of people relying on the government for their needs.
We have a harsh economic reality coming our way in America. It is going to take real leadership - both in the areas of policy and inspiration - to steer us away from our debtor nation status.
Labels: Economy
Permalink posted by Rob Huddleston @ 7:06 AM 
