Having a hard time pulling myself away from productivity conversations on the webs. A recent report from the President’s Council of Economic Advisors indicated that if the last 40 years had shown productivity gains similar to those made in the previous 40 years, the average US household would be $30,000 richer. While the measure is being hotly debated, US citizens seem to have made up their minds:
the last time a majority of Americans rated their own financial condition as “good or excellent” was 2005. Gallup finds that the last time most Americans were satisfied with the way things were going in the country was 2004. The last time Americans were confident that their children’s lives would be better than their own was 2001.
We’ve been hearing some of this since the 90s. The first reported Generation X – born in 1965 or after – was notable because it wasn’t likely to experience the material comforts of its parents. Subsequent Gen Xes – the start year moved until we got to Y and Z – have had the same fate. Still, there’s something grim about millions of people going to the polling booths, knowing that a majority of them know they’re screwed, and that only one person is saying it.
In at The End of The World 
In a lengthy but well worth reading article from The Washington Monthly. It looks specifically at how St. Louis was once an industrial, commercial, transportation, and regional advertising and- media hub. And how forces of consolidation within industries slowly eliminated all of that. It’s about St. Louis, but applies to many of other cities that aren’t located on the east or west coast.
The author sites several examples of mostly obscure federal legislation from the early Twentieth Century—the decades between T.R. Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt—that were effective in regulating the forces of consolidation and thus, preserving regional economies. There were downsides to these laws, like less choice for consumers and generally higher prices for certain categories of consumer goods. And, I’m not suggesting that all of these laws should be brought back or vigorously enforced. But, as I read through the list of legislation, it’s hard to imagine that such things ever existed. And the contrast to the current Republican congress is stunning.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/marchaprilmay_2016/features/the_real_reason_middle_america059897.php?page=all
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On the flip side, Bob Fitch wrote extensively about the ways in which elected officials zoned the manufacturing economy out of existence in NYC. Nothing conspiratorial about it – there are memos saying we need to get rid of stinky fish markets and grubby workers if we want NYC to be the finance capitol of the world. http://www.thenation.com/article/remembering-robert-fitch/
“Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched. But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity, on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.”
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