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Originally Posted by 12thMan
You seem to lay much of the blame at the feet of the American consumer. Government can't solve all the problems, people need to save more, homes are expensive, etc. While all of your statements are true, it's also true that real wages have stagnated over the past 20 years while the cost of living continues to go up. The average American is working longer, retiring later, and the exorbitant cost of health care have driven many into bankruptcy, all while being barraged with ads selling the American dream and easy credit.
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But WHY have real wages stagnated? It's not enough to just say they have, you have to understand why they've stagnated if you expect anyone to do anything about it. You can't prescribe medicine for the disease if you don't understand how it's attacking the body.
Globalization. That's the cause.
Real wages have stagnated because the American dream as we used to know it has evaporated. It used to be enough to graduate from high school and get a job at a factory. That could support the American family just fine. But companies have found ways to make many products for cheaper overseas largely because of lower wage rates in foreign countries. Companies shut down factories here and moved them to China. And now as India has become stronger from an education perspective, companies are finding they can eliminate American call centers and do it cheaper in India.
So when you have so many jobs headed overseas, and a growing population here in the states, you get a greater supply of workers. Natural market forces will of course prevent wages from growing.
Understanding that, what praytell do you ask of Obama or congress or anybody? What the hell can you do about it? China and India have cheaper labor, are you going to tell your American companies they can't ship jobs overseas to those countries? If you do, those American companies won't last long against competition that is allowed to tap into the cheaper labor pool.
Obama hasn't done anything about it because there is no answer. It's up to the people. You want to live the American dream, be better than your Chinese or Indian counterpart, because if you don't then they'll live the American dream. Work and deserve it, earn it to own it.