re: #544 Political Atheist

So why were the recovery policies so top heavy? TARP was just about Bush’s last act. 4 years since with the people in the executive and Senate that never believed in trickle down.
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The GOP systematically opposed the bottom-up stuff. The Democrats wanted more spending on things like food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc. etc. The only thing the GOP was really into was tax breaks.

The bailout of the financial companies was needed to stop the economy melting down. That is completely beside the point of the egregious difference in who has profited from the economy. I completely agree we should have strongly regulated the financial industry at the same time as we lifted them up, but there was heavy resistance to that from the GOP and from a couple (but important) corporatist Democrats.

As it stands, the banks are just going to repeat the same sort of mistake— and it’s not just the banks. Many corporations are now using financial instruments more than they are engaging in their key business. Paper profits are a lot easier to make than profits from actually doing stuff.

But mainly, the weakened unions, the low minimum wage, and the various worker protections that have been stripped away have led to a labor market where for anything under highly skilled jobs, employers can dictate terms.