About the first decade of what was to be the Second American Century, the pessimists have been proven right.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the United States began the century producing 32 percent of the world's gross domestic product. We ended the decade producing 24 percent. No nation in modern history, save for the late Soviet Union, has seen so precipitous a decline in relative power in a single decade.
The United States began the century with a budget surplus. We ended with a deficit of 10 percent of gross domestic product, which will be repeated in 2010. Where the economy was at full employment in 2000, 10 percent of the labor force is out of work today and another 7 percent is underemployed or has given up looking for a job.
Between one-fourth and one-third of all U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared in 10 years, the fruits of a free-trade ideology that has proven anything but free for this country. Our future is being outsourced -- to China.
While the median income of American families was stagnant, the national debt doubled.
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5 comments:
You mean all of these problems we're dealing with didn't crop up on January 20th of 2009?
Found your blog through face book. Interesting.
The fastest growing sector in manufacturing, by far, is in alternative energy and green collar jobs. Some experts predict double digit growth for several years and a recent study has concluded that climate change legislation alone could create as many as 4.5 million jobs by 2030. Jobs such as solar power designers, builders and installers, and wind turbine mechanics and electricians.
This green economy is thriving in the mid and southwest but is sadly lacking in VA.
As long as Virginians continue to send to Richmond people like McDonnell, Landes and Lohr, who seem to only look backwards and not forwards, the we will miss this golden opportunity.
Sour grapes much, Marrow? I guess I can understand, considering the embarrassing showing you put in this past November.
I can understand your confusion regarding Greg Marrow's comment.
He's writing the truth and that is what confuses you. Truth is an alien concept for you.
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