creating jobs without government spending?

[Anonymous]

"That anxiety has reduced consumer demand and, in my opinion, that demand will not return for many many years. None of us really needs all of the junk we were so encouraged to consume."

I hope this doesn't lead to deflation. Consumer spending is important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree. CEO's are partisan and would change their behavior if a Republican were in the White House.

I agree that they are often partisan. But it doesn't matter. Their job is to produce earnings. I have worked for one of the staunchest republicans out there, one of the single biggest donors to Republican causes. He gets written about in the papers all the time. I can tell you without hesitation that he does not try harder in business because there is a Democrat in the White House. It's absurd. He may work to get a president impeached. He works to elect them and he works to defeat them. But no way in hell is he going to tank his growth or earnings because he's bitter at the president.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"That anxiety has reduced consumer demand and, in my opinion, that demand will not return for many many years. None of us really needs all of the junk we were so encouraged to consume."

I hope this doesn't lead to deflation. Consumer spending is important.

I agree and I do not see deflation occurring, though I am no economist. But the driver in economic growth over the last 10 years has been the consumer, and much of that consumer driven growth has been the top, say, 10% on the economic ladder. The fact is that the bottom 75% of American society has seen NO substantive increase in real wages for decades, literally. If one assumes that the bottom half of that 10% has been shocked by the Great Recession, I do not see them returning to their old ways any time soon. While the billionaires and multi-millionaires will continue along in their same old ways (which is fine), there are many many people making high five figures and low six figures who will not return to the consumer society. We are in period of slow growth, and I blame that entirely on the arrogance and short-term orientation of Wall Street as well as aggressive and unnecessary layoffs by many large corporations. I, of course, assume that the idiots on Wall Street and the corporate suits will continue to earn more than their true worth would represent. I, however, have no idea what we should do about this.