Comments on: This Isn’t Your Father’s Democratic Party http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2007/11/this-isnt-your-fathers-democratic-party Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:39:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: eRobin http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2007/11/this-isnt-your-fathers-democratic-party/comment-page-1#comment-11856 eRobin Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:02:36 +0000 http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2007/11/this-isnt-your-fathers-democratic-party#comment-11856 People in the US mattered before globalization when it was important to keep them able to buy shit that captains of industry sold. Now we're still important as a market but the shit doesn't cost as much so we don't need to earn that much. And we buy, buy, buy like drug addicts no matter what. keeping the pushers rolling in dough. (As for non-discretionary spending, we're locked into that pain as prices skyrocket.) As China and India grow their consumer class, we'll lose out ability to influence policy via our spending. The middle class in the USA will be dead but the powers that be don't care. It will be some other country's turn to prosper. Maybe that's fair. I'm sure that this is overly simple but I don't think it takes a PhD in Econ to see what's happening here. But if you want to read a technical, smarty pants post about it, then <a href="http://agonist.org/ian_welsh/20071001/ricardos_caveat" rel="nofollow">here it is</a>. People in the US mattered before globalization when it was important to keep them able to buy shit that captains of industry sold. Now we’re still important as a market but the shit doesn’t cost as much so we don’t need to earn that much. And we buy, buy, buy like drug addicts no matter what. keeping the pushers rolling in dough. (As for non-discretionary spending, we’re locked into that pain as prices skyrocket.) As China and India grow their consumer class, we’ll lose out ability to influence policy via our spending. The middle class in the USA will be dead but the powers that be don’t care. It will be some other country’s turn to prosper. Maybe that’s fair.

I’m sure that this is overly simple but I don’t think it takes a PhD in Econ to see what’s happening here. But if you want to read a technical, smarty pants post about it, then here it is.

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