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It’s time to work together

We’re in trouble when it comes to our economy. The Democrats blame the Republicans. The Republicans blame the Democrats. The progressive-minded people, like me, would rather take a more realistic approach.

It’s all of our faults. Certain choices led us to the economic woes we’re in now. It ties into almost all of our choices, from the over-reliance on fossil fuels, to having an economy based on retail consumerism, and includes the people we elect into public office.

Honestly, the last big economic plan an American leader had that made any sense whatsoever was The New Deal. It made jobs when we were hurting for them. More jobs meant more money. More money meant more sales and higher ability for economic trade on international levels. It also meant more money going into the government, which ,ideally, would go back to the people in goods and services. Reaganomics ended up using almost the exact same premise, but because of the “trickle-down” economic effect it was a ridiculous idea. It had the opposite effect and forced us into a recession.

Then there’s George W. Bush. His decisions forced us into one of the highest debts this nation has ever had. He applied old, flawed thinking (Reaganomics) in new, more flawed ways. They were so flawed that not even one of the things that bolsters our economy most (war) helped. Let’s face it; the economy of war tends to be good for the American economy for some reason.

Then again, these same problems exist on the state level as well. We are generally getting screwed over by our leadership, and no one really wants to call them on it until they’re caught in their game, i.e. Blago. Much like business, there has to be a higher level of accountability in our government.

It’s not just our elected leaders’ fault. It’s our fault too. It’s our consumer complex that sustains the bulk of our economy, not international or interstate trade. The majority of our economy is built on us buying stuff, occasionally crap we don’t even need. Other countries have their economy largely based on trade, and they use their resources wisely. Examples of this will come up later. The problem with an economic system that’s largely based on retail consumerism is that if people are afraid, they’ll spend less and the economy will get worse. People spend less and more people lose jobs. More people lose jobs and more people spend less. It’s a brutal cycle.

We also tend to use resources in an unwise way. We rely too fully on fossil fuels because even though it’s more expensive in the long run, it’s cheaper right now. We also spend more time importing things, oil for example, when we have massive reserves in different areas of the country. We could take a lesson from Norway, who keeps their oil reserves as essentially a rainy day fund. This is our rainy day, and we’ve got no fund like that waiting. Our over-reliance on fossil fuels actually puts us at the mercy of foreign interests when we could take care of ourselves. Sure, the cost to convert to “green” energy and technology is expensive. Maintaining it is not. It would also open up more jobs, and America could use a better job market as a whole.

It’s time we take responsibility for our actions and choices. It’s time we work together to fix the economy along with the other problems in American society.