The Economy

 During the unusual Biden to Harris vs Trump election year, there were many conflicting claims about the economy.

Some said we faced terrible problems during the Covid years, including very high inflation and unemployment, but astute management by the Biden administration and the Fed brought both indicators better than seen in quite awhile.

Others complained about high inflation and underemployment with low paying jobs replacing earlier high paying jobs.

Both have some truth (though I believe MAGA Red made a lot of hay from the false belief that the inflation rate was still high.  By all standard measurements, it was not: although we previously had experienced very high inflation (along with vastly reduced income, especially for some) and that was now permanently baked in, the actual rate had come down, which at least demonstrated some kind of competent skill* from the Biden Administration and the Fed, the kind of skill that would probably be lost with a hard right doctrinaire team of unqualified morons that would be hired by Trump.

On the other hand, there are fundamental problems, a wise Biden Administration could have done far better, and lots of problems are simply baked in because of spending about 1/3 of our resources on our endless war of global domination against the rest of the world.  Two big wars started under the Biden Administration.  I believe they could have been prevented (and even be stopped now immediately) by the US by simply stopping the weapons and support being sent to them.

*****

Imagine we're in the proverbial spiral down to hell (in the center of the earth).  It's not a fixed constant spirl, but our path while sliding down the inside of a cone.

As we proceed downwards, at any one time, we may be headed north.  So some may call out, "The problem is we are headed north!"  So there's a great push to the side to knock us off that course.  But meanwhile all we have done is gone further down, though possibly more steeply in some quadrants than others.

Changing from down to up requires fundamental change like turning the world upside down.

The fundamental change we need has to start with putting people first.

(* I hesitate to say expertise any more in describing people like Treasury Sec Powell, who is it least much more competent and skillful than anyone that could be imagined being appointed by Trump.  But like all others before, he continues down the path of employing mainstream neoclassical economics, which has certain deleterious side effects, among them creating instability by stability,  facilitating destructive growth more than useful development, and endlessly ratcheting up inequality.  The anti-economics economist I like most, Steve Keen, has a marvelous essay on the current disasterous state of QE, which probably never should have been done...people's needs should have been funded directly...and then stopped asap.  Paying interest on the reserves essentially created by QE is even worse.)