Posted on 01/18/2016 10:47:05 AM PST by Idaho_Cowboy
WASHINGTON -- It's only January, but what may be the year's most important book on economics has already been published. Called "The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War," it argues that we can't expect new technologies to rekindle rapid economic growth. Despite all the Internet hoopla, advances in living standards will be modest and grudging. This somber message goes to the heart of the debate about America's future.
It's not that the author, economist Robert J. Gordon of Northwestern University, dislikes technology. Just the opposite: He's fascinated by it, and almost all his 762-page masterpiece describes the huge gains, mostly derived from new technologies, that have transformed daily life since the late 1800s. Until then, writes Gordon, "life and work were risky, dull, tedious, dangerous and often either too hot or too cold."
Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0116/samuelson011816.php3#m05xIf1TKpIeiQCH.99
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Unmention in the article is: Why bother to invent anything when the government pays people to do that (poorly), and can out-law or regulate your invention out of existince on a whim. I suspect that takes most of the fun and profit out of it.
Another Leftist clown pimping the notion that you all should just accept this as the “new normal”
NO, we don’t have to accept this top heavy Government managed economy mess as “normal”.
Just think where this country would be if we didn’t piss away our wealth by giving it to 3rd world countries - or helping to develop the economies of 3rd world nations to a point to where they became direct competition to the US.
Perhaps I am being picky, but this comment is stupid.
"Before washers and dryers"?? The innovation which avoided the hauling of water is called "plumbing".
Many homes did not have indoor plumbing until well into the 20th Century.
Must have helped keep them in pretty good shape.
This plumbing and electricity thing is just a passing fad anyway.
Those who are busy hauling water and stirring laundry in a cauldron are causing less trouble.
The cost of technology is making the average worker poorer, not richer. Cable, data, cellular and phone bills are new phenomena and are way too expensive. Have salary’s kept up with technology? If a young person forgos buying new cars, all of that communications technology they could probably retire 20 years earlier.
We filled our washer with the garden hose.
Never mind that you’d be crazy to hire anybody.
First of all, good luck finding a work ethic.
Second, good luck avoiding lawsuits, overburdening of paperwork, and all kinds of government-imposed fringe benefits
“Before washers and dryers”?? The innovation which avoided the hauling of water is called “plumbing”.
Reduce government by 50%-75%.
Have taxes cover what the government MUST do.
Get the government OUT OF THE WAY at all levels so that The People can prosper.
Be in constructive relationships with our friends around the world. NOTHING to our enemies.
Garottes for the Progressives who brought us to this state.
Comparatively speaking the author may be correct. But the technology boom is just getting started. Especially as it relates to tracking every facet of all our lives...uh, for the children. Probably.
This guy Samuelson is a typical technocratic and socialistic jerk who doesn’t understand how innovation occurs and what drove the unprecedented economic expansion in the USA and the book sounds like it’s writer doesn’t understand either. Break out your copies of “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged” if you want to know how we got where we are and where we are going.
Globalization practically guaranteed this is the “new normal” permanently; unlike years ago where we were the prime manufacturer of just about everything, the Third World is now the factory of the world. Ditto for call centers, data entry, etc.
The traditional family is the bedrock of American economic success. To be a man respected by others is to provide for your family. When your family is not a drag on society then the standard of living and quality of life improve.
The family is both the basic unit of good economics and the basic unit of government..of social control.
That's a very good point. Too many men don't want to step up an take the initiative and many that want to can't get started due to the great Obama economy.
We’ve been through this before, in the 1970s and early 80s. After Carter and a Democratic Congress, we were finding “limits to growth.” Paul Erlich and the “Club of Rome” were predicting that we would run out of all resources by 2004 or so, and mass starvation would ensue.
Then we got Ronald Reagan, lower taxes, deregulation, the “surprising” collapse of the Russian communist empire, and pretty good times.
This was ruined by massive government intervention in banking and housing, which tanked the economy. Community organizer, then Senator, now President Barack Hussein Obama has always fully endorsed these policies.
“unlike years ago where we were the prime manufacturer of just about everything,”
True, but why? High US corporate income taxes hurt US manufacturing. Other countries tax their corporations less. Too powerful unions make the US manufacturing less competitive. Failure to US nuclear and other energy sources as we could, have denied us the cheap energy that would have fueled US manufacturing. Over-regulation, Obama-care, etc. have also reduced our competitiveness. It is currently illegal to export US oil, which is turning US booms to busts in energy production. Socialism is killing the economy in so many ways.
Trade improves our standard of living. That is why we do it. It works between individuals, counties, states, and between nations. In the 1950s we had trade and were very competitive. Today we take prosperity as a right and never give a thought as whether a proposed law will make us more or less competitive.
Makes too much sense. :)
“The traditional family is the bedrock of American economic success.”
True. But if the janitor will just leave his family, the government will give then housing, heating assistance in winter, health-care, food stamps, and cash.
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