Robert B. Reich - Aftershock: The Next Economy and America′s Future
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Public policy expert and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich discusses the aftermath of the economic crisis in his book "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America′s Future," presented by Harvard Book Store. Although blame has been directed at Wall Street, Reich suggests a different reason for the meltdown, and for a perilous road ahead. He argues that the real problem is structural: it lies in the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top, and in a middle class that has had to go deeply into debt to maintain a decent standard of living. More lectures at http://forum-network.org. This talk was taped on September 24, 2010.
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this...thing this socialist idiot this retarded screwed up legend in his own mind actually believes the lies hes created in his own sick fantasy world.This is probably the most vile and dangerous sack of idealog vomit since Hitler.
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One of the main points seems to be: why can the US not have the same kind of national solidarity it had in the 1950s and 1960s? Probably too much "diversity" undermines the idea of belonging to the same political community, hence diminishing solidarity.
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I did not listen intently to every word of this, but my criticism of RBR is that he simply really does not have a true economic solution. It's much more a political sol'n, and this makes sense, given his background. He slams some great men, but in actuality does not have a viable ECONOMIC sol'n to achieve the greater distribution of wealth he seeks. In a free society, you will always, always have a disparity in wealth & distribution, no matter what type of non-authoratarian policies you may implement. As you gradually implement artificial controls, you will 'disperse' the economy and cause an internal decline. Very simple. Yes, there are micro and macro coping mechs, but they ultimately will swing or help reverse the cycle. For sure, he has a lot of interesting observations, but he is not really looking forward on how people will 'work for pay'--what the future will be. Tedious labor is a thing of the past. We will be forced to become more 'technical', more intelligent (at programming, engineering, etc.) whether we like it or not. That should be obvious, especially for someone in his social and academic circle--well, he is actually not that familiar with the working world as he projects himself to be. Hello, Bob, please wake up, and grow out of your childish socialist mindset. That is 'what you have'--scary early Russian style socialism, which never worked, nor will it. In the end, the economic forces at work will always be far more powerful than the political currents or conscious mindset of the 'politicians' and those who appoint them--their believe otherwise is just a function of their arrogance. Refer to 1700's economist Adam Smith: even in a perfect democracy without the ups and downs of annoying social inequities, people's economic interests determine their long term economic paths and destiny. I could go on, but these basic principles seem lost to over-reaching politicians, which is exactly what RBR really is. I did not hear any discussion of economic trends/effects/reactions, just the political 'reactions' which he derided and yet ironically what he is proposing. Take his last question answer, for instance: how do you really explain how it is so terrible to move more industrial base to the 'south', where the wages are lower. Naturally that helps a whole swathe of working people, but Bob doesn't even 'get that' simple point. Wow. Concluding words though make sense of his nonsense: "..you are my friends, and PLEASE buy a book--thank you!" I am sure he meant that in the best possible way.
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Comments here seem do nothing, but point fingers and blame. How would you know if he is wrong or right? For those who say he is wrong. Are you a renowned economist with a wealth of experience? If so please voice a solution. At least he has solutions. This not communism or socialism or fascism. It is an economic discussion. He is only pointing out that history is repeating itself. Haven't we heard this phrase before. Is anyone learning this? Please!
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I remember when everyone wanted to come to America. Now everyone is heading to China. Meanwhile the Chinese are learning English. Gr8. And the world goes round ..
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forget why your wages are so low. why are we not producing anything?
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hen it crashes, we know who to blame...JEWS!
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With great wealth comes great responsibility huh
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We know the problem, we need a solution the question is: WHAT WE CAN DO?
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It's all the fault of Raygun, the guy was an idiot!
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What is this guy talking about? I can find direct evidence that contradicts what he claims.
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Military spending. Wars.
Plenty is left wing. The left have always been those to oppose great wealth gained no true ratio of contribution or effort. NOT as the right wing propaganda (lie) goes "Everybody gets the same " They do NOT.
Left is fair reward for effort and real contribution, social solidarity, and striving hard for real equality of opportunity. That is left.Those saying otherwise are disingenuous for the most part or liars.
Many of the Tea party types have been so corrupted, and perverted by commerce media USA, they do not know they have left ideas.
That said you can fix this without ideology of left or right. -
The one aspect of our economic system that Robert Reich has failed to identify as a cause of income and wealth concentration, and the boom-to-bust cycles we experience is the role of our systems of land tenure and taxation. Our experience in the U.S. was actually forecasted by Adam Smith in 1776. Smith's analysis demonstrated that the privatization of this rental income transfers societal wealth to individuals. This is a fundamental redistribution of wealth from producers to a rentier elite. Smith advised societies to tax rent to pay for public goods and services. John Stuart Mill urged a more moderate form of this public policy. Henry George at the end of the 19th century picked up the cause, arguing there was sufficient rent to pay for all public goods and services and thereby eliminate the need for the taxation of earned income flows, of the buildings, machinery and other capital goods we produce, and of our commerce. IF we have followed the advice of Smith, Mill, George (and others who continued to make these same arguments even as our politicians embraced one or the other economic ideologies) we would now have a labor and capital goods basis for private property. No longer would our economy and our society be plagued by land speculation because land prices would be brought down and remain low. Land markets would be competitive in the same way that markets for labor and capital goods are competitive.
All of the destructive outcomes described by Robert Reich would never have occurred. Sadly, nothing that has been done since the 2007 crash will prevent another crash of our credit-fueled, speculation driven land markets.
I urge Robert Reich to revisit Henry George's analysis of political economy. Or, if a more modern treatment of the same dynamics is desired, read Mason Gaffney's book, "After the Crash." -
They is a lot of misspelliers on hear commenting. What a bunch of morans!
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Mormons are like jews. taking all the gentiles jobs. jkkk.
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To find out more about economics in this vain see see http://johnkomlos.com/
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Their all morons, You can't spend your way out of debt, This depression hasn't bit us in the as yet!
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yes yes...the middle class....leave the poor behind...just the middle!
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Rich people don't mean to hurt the middle class. The rich are suffering from affluenza. :P
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