If Carter had won

> From time to time, I wonder how America and the world would have evolved had Jimmy Carter won a second term. The Reagan revolution wouldn't have occurred, and Bush Sr might have had two unrevolutionary terms followed by a couple of Clinton terms.
> Policies and programs to address world overpopulation and reproductive health wouldn't have been interrupted by a gag rule. More manufacturing and middle-class jobs would still be in the US. More of our citizens would have assets, savings and comfortable retirements. Less wealth would be concentrated in a plutocracy and gambled in hedge funds, collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. More banks would be solvent.
> Most of our electricity would be from solar and wind energy, and more of our transportation would be electrically powered. Energy efficiency/conservation would be advanced. Our trade imbalance would be much smaller, so less of the US would be foreign owned. Our government debt would be far less than the 13 trillion that now makes us vulnerable to mistakes or blackmail by foreign governments or sovereign wealth funds.
> In summary, our policies would reflect common sense rather than Reaganomic myths and slogans.

Unpatriotic Reaganomics

* A mature and intelligent person inquired of my bumper sticker, "No more Republican/Reaganomic Kool Aid". I discovered that most people don't realize that the economic paradigm under which we struggle is a contrivance of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher beginning after 1980, an economic experiment with a dubious rationale, not the natural order.
* The pillars of Reaganomics are: 1) deregulation to unleash commercial activity; 2) globalization to combat inflation; 3) tax cuts for the rich to stimulate investment; 4) faith in market forces to provide what society needs; 5) privatization of basic services for better efficiency and incentives. Each of these pillars might be helpful in small doses, but suicidal in large doses.
* Swallowed whole they translate to environmental degradation, resource depletion, loss of American jobs, Walmartization, idle mill towns, blighted cities, broken rungs on the economic ladder, anemic middle class, diffuse disaffection, transfer of wealth to foreign corporations and sovereign wealth funds, sequestration of wealth among corporate executives and Wall Street paper pushers, large and relentless government budget deficits hence rapid expansion of government debt now equal to the gross national product, epidemic corporate and personal bankruptcies, over-expansion of the military-industrial complex, toxic self-righteousness among those who compete successfully, neglect of infrastructure and utter failure to prepare for future inevitabilities.
* Reaganomics seems unpatriotic.

Obama & Robert Reich

* Since 1980, I've suspected that Reaganomics (tax cuts for the rich, globalization, deregulation, faith in market forces, privatization) would decimate our middle class, bankrupt the nation, deplete essential resources and pollute the world's support systems. We're 'bout there.
* Since 1980, corporate bankruptcies have been rampant, oceans and air are irreparably polluted, the lower rungs of the economic ladder are missing and the national debt has increased 10 fold, doubling under Bush II and now equaling the gross national product. Owing to corrupt election financing, our government has subsidized many industries that didn't need it and failed to incentivize industries essential for the nation's survival, specifically solar and hydrogen energy.
* Now joblessness and homelessness are at or near 50-year highs. With so many of us in this together, perhaps there will be fewer people groveling in self-righteousness.
* Sadly, Obama seems to accept much of the Reaganomic paradigm. It was somewhat encouraging to see Robert Reich among his economic advisers. He is best suited to steer our economy back to something widely satisfactory and sustainable.

Stuff and Happiness

* After many years of subversive columns, Cal Thomas finally said something worth considering: that today's economic mess may be due in part to our excessive use of debt to acquire stuff in vain quest for happiness. As a child of the depression, raised during WWII, of parents raised during WWI, I embrace this thought. Scientific studies show that happiness increases with prosperity up to the point where comfort and convenience are secured; but, beyond that, it depends more on spiritual matters, such as interpersonal relations, inclination for gratitude, sense of meaning, cultural participation, reconciliation with circumstances, intellectual stimulation, ie factors requiring little stuff. Some of us are too restless to achieve nirvana regardless of these factors.
* The earth cannot durably support America's appetite for stuff, so our stuff acquisition will diminish regardless of desires and policies. This trend is accelerating as large eastern populations gain wealth at our expense, owing to our choice to get stuff we don't produce. A worldwide consensus for responsible reproduction could moderate these trends.
* Today our capacity to produce stuff (& deplete & pollute) greatly exceeds our need for it, so the Reaganomic myth that investment will solve our socio-economic problems was false on it's face and is now proven so by collapse of many corporations since 1980.
* We could have all the stuff we need, and wealth would be better distributed, if everyone worked no more than 20 hours per week. Of course that wouldn't be sustainable in a global economy unless there were a world-wide consensus for it, as the French are learning.
* With these thoughts in mind, I promote various happiness-engendering activities that require little stuff, and I support every NGO that encourages responsible reproduction anywhere.

Economic Crisis

Almost a decade ago, it seemed clear to me that a great deal of sadness would issue form home loans exceeding home values and homeowners using such loans to support unearned lifestyles. Home buyers were cynically encouraged to speculate with borrowed money, governments welcomed this phony contribution to economic activity, and the whole economy became more brittle.
I did not predict how contagious foreclosures would be, each foreclosure resulting in devaluation of neighboring homes hence foreclosures there and so on. Banks now hold massive numbers of foreclosed and devalued properties vulnerable to destruction by copper thieves.
Banks and governments should have recognized this epidemic at least three years ago and formed a plan to nip it in the bud. Up front, they might have outlawed variable-rate loans, liar loans and greater-than-value loans, they might have restricted loans for new construction, they might have regulated mortgage backed securities, etc.
When defaults started increasing, delinquent homeowners should have immediately been offered restructured loans according to an industry-wide agreed-upon formula arranged by government. For example, each delinquent loan might be converted to a 30-year mortgage with principal and interest appropriate for the time of the original purchase, then with interest adjusted annually in proportion to the change of property value since that time. That would reduce the bank's income for a few years, until housing inventory is brought into balance, but bank's principal would be salvaged. This is a modest, more flexible variation of the THDA plan, which is coming too late.

Reaganomic Debt

Reaganomics (tax cuts for rich, deregulation, globalization) has increased government debt 10 fold during 1/10 of our nation's existence, despite two world wars and several other wars during the other 9/10 of our existence. Thus, Reaganomics has increased the rate of debt accumulation to almost 100 times the previous average, with little to show for it.
I wonder who celebrates the economic trajectory that we are on, a vortex in which debt service is a large, growing and self-augmenting line item of the federal budget--this accompanied by the largest redistribution of wealth in history, from workers to wealthy.
Now we see that Reagan's deregulation and globalization were bad not only for Main Street but also for Wall Street. Record-breaking bankruptcies and bailouts are now commonplace. Business-friendly governance kills businesses.
We are flirting with bankruptcy, selling production assets, property and debt paper to sovereign wealth funds etc to finance ongoing operations of both government and business.
We may have already drunk too much Republican Cool Aid; but, with Sarah Palin in the race, chances are we'll elect to drink some more. We wouldn't be in this shape if a rag-tag bunch of Iranian students hadn't held our embassy personnel hostage back in the late 70s, thereby weakening Carter's image. Chaos theory is not just for butterflies any more.

Election 2008

Concerning Thomas Sowell's Sept 3 column, "Obama's idea of change is recycling FDR's disastrous policies", I wonder what kind of America he wishes for.
Without presenting evidence, he claims that FDR's recovery programs extended the Great Depression. Americans should be thankful for Social Security, the Securities Exchange Commission, the Tennessee Valley Authority, as well as infrastructure produced by the CCC and WPA, all of which benefit Americans to this day.
The effectiveness of the New Deal must be judged in relation to available alternatives. The Great Depression was a child of three consecutive Republican administrations. What does Sowell know that a fourth Republican administration would have done to shorten their Great Depression more effectively than did the New Deal?
To characterize Obama's campaign as class war is a cynical lie, and Sowell should be ashamed of repeating it. America is hemorrhaging, headed for bankruptcy, owing to neglect of our true interests over 28 years of Reaganism. We (rich, poor, business, labor, black, white, all in it together) are facing an existential fiscal threat. Republican think tanks whose doctrines steered us toward this shoal are still intact, so it is unlikely that another Republican administration will make the needed course correction.
Obama will incentivize infrastructure transformations to employ people quickly and stop the bleeding, resulting in century-long benefits for all Americans.