The U.S. economy is underperforming, and the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policies won’t reinvigorate it.
To cope with the financial crisis, President Obama pulled out all the stops—record deficits, bank and automaker bailouts, and sweeping financial reform—but since the summer of 2009, GDP has advanced only 2.2 percent annually. One out of six men ages 25 to 54 remain jobless, wages are stagnant, and family incomes continue to fall.
History dealt Ronald Reagan a tough hand too—he endured double digit inflation, interest rates, and unemployment. Yet, his recovery accomplished 4.7 percent growth, vigorous jobs creation, and a robust prosperity.
America once boasted the most productive manufacturing and R&D on the planet, but for some time now, CEOs have been underinvesting at home and moving plants and product development to China and other foreign locations.
Nowadays, many young people can’t start a decent career, are burdened with too much college debt, and are postponing marriage and children. More elderly are bagging groceries and busing tables, because they can’t get a decent return on savings and many have lost pensions.
University presidents have been overinvesting in football, covering up the criminal activities of athletes and coaches, and short-funding science and engineering. They push students into cheap-to-staff majors in the social sciences and humanities, where disaffected faculty often cultivate cynicism about traditional American values like hard work, personal responsibility, and thrift, and students acquire too few marketable skills.
U.S. productivity growth has slowed to a historically anemic 1 percent a year, while in China the pace is about 5 to 6 percent!
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