Pretty good analysis, but it's not constructive to blame a single dead politician for this. In fact, the policies of both parties have contributed to the mess you described. Repubs have allegiance to "free trade" which is not free at all and serves mainly to allow corporations to move work to countries that respect neither their employees' rights nor the environment. Even if it were free trade, the concept of relative advantage is only valid when both countries have full employment. (Oops!) Dems on the other hand have their blind allegiance to a dead British economist who convinced people that you can create jobs just by stimulating demand, ignoring the rest of the equation. This error is compounded by the fact that the formula for GDP includes govt spending, without regard to whether it produces anything people want or need, or whether it creates jobs. This results in the most perverse incentives imaginable.
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Pretty good analysis, but it's not constructive to blame a single dead politician for this. In fact, the policies of both parties have contributed to the mess you described. Repubs have allegiance to "free trade" which is not free at all and serves mainly to allow corporations to move work to countries that respect neither their employees' rights nor the environment. Even if it were free trade, the concept of relative advantage is only valid when both countries have full employment. (Oops!) Dems on the other hand have their blind allegiance to a dead British economist who convinced people that you can create jobs just by stimulating demand, ignoring the rest of the equation. This error is compounded by the fact that the formula for GDP includes govt spending, without regard to whether it produces anything people want or need, or whether it creates jobs. This results in the most perverse incentives imaginable.