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Crewleader

(17,005 posts)
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 09:56 PM Mar 2015

The 3 Biggest Myths Blinding Us to the Economic Truth by Robert Reich



Tuesday, March 10, 2015

1. The “job creators” are CEOs, corporations, and the rich, whose taxes must be low in order to induce them to create more jobs. Rubbish. The real job creators are the vast middle class and the poor, whose spending induces businesses to create jobs. Which is why raising the minimum wage, extending overtime protection, enlarging the Earned Income Tax Credit, and reducing middle-class taxes are all necessary.

2. The critical choice is between the “free market” or “government.” Baloney. The free market doesn’t exist in nature. It’s created and enforced by government. And all the ongoing decisions about how it’s organized – what gets patent protection and for how long (the human genome?), who can declare bankruptcy (corporations? homeowners? student debtors?), what contracts are fraudulent (insider trading?) or coercive (predatory loans? mandatory arbitration?), and how much market power is excessive (Comcast and Time Warner?) – depend on government.

3. We should worry most about the size of government. Wrong. We should worry about who government is for. When big money from giant corporations and Wall Street inundate our politics, all decisions relating to #1 and #2 above become rigged against average working Americans.

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The 3 Biggest Myths Blinding Us to the Economic Truth by Robert Reich (Original Post) Crewleader Mar 2015 OP
The biggest thing preventing people from seeing the economic truth is ... 1StrongBlackMan Mar 2015 #1
Reich's ideas for tackling inequality abelenkpe Mar 2015 #3
I'm familar with Reich's solutions ... 1StrongBlackMan Mar 2015 #5
K&R abelenkpe Mar 2015 #2
The Guy as usual nails it. Wellstone ruled Mar 2015 #4
 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
1. The biggest thing preventing people from seeing the economic truth is ...
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 10:07 PM
Mar 2015

article upon article upon OP lamenting the problem; but, a complete lack of convincingly, workable solutions.

 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
5. I'm familar with Reich's solutions ...
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 10:49 PM
Mar 2015

and I agree with them ... but I said convincingly workable.

The fact that few of them are being implemented, means they have not risen to the point of being either not convincing, or workable.

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