It is not how we built are original middle class, but mjfdl was extolling the virtues of Ronnie's deficits, and indeed, many of the current US middle class, myself included, have a working career which is from that time or later.
He is correct in some sense. The go-go economics of the last quarter century, with deficit spending, cheap money, and heady speculation & asset appreciation, coupled with free trade has resulted in an impressive American standard of living. The scattered pain of this system, from the likes of Enron & Worldcomm to the loss of manufacturing jobs and increased high tech offshoring are relatively minor so far when you compare us against any other country.
The mistake comes when one assumes that economic policy and consequences are static in nature. They have a large temporal component which can span decades, so to assume that policy X pursued with apparently good results for the last decade, may be safely pursued for the next decade, especially in the face of changing international orders is problematic. Economic policies which succeed well for a quarter century tend to acquire religious status. Thats a real problem. |
