I'm curious how many realize that we have recreated the same economic environment as the Great Depression.
It's astonishing really.
It feels different this time only because of the income-supporting welfare systems the West has that were absent in the 30s.
They are a poor substitute for employment.
As Twain said, history doesn't repeat, it rhymes - which only makes it less obvious to see when we're in it. We've done it again, but we can't seem to see what we've done or to find the clear and simple path out of this human tragedy.
Sovereign nations have the ability and responsibility to prevent depression, and to ensure people have adequate employment and income to live.
But we don't seem to want our government to do this. Those of us with sufficient work and income are content to let others suffer rather than direct national resources toward our neighbors. The prevailing narrative says we have to leave things alone - that trying to help will only make it worse. And we've all seen that before.
We who are in the ranks of the "doing okay" control the vote and the purse strings. And we keep voting to maintain the very system that created another depression, sentencing more friends and neighbors to a life of welfare, underemployment, uncertainty, and unemployability for some. Ironically, we make our own situation more precarious by leaving our economy teetering on the edge of recession, closing down more and more of our public services, and starving off investment in public infrastructure.
We can change this - and quickly!
We need a new narrative - one that respects our ability to have good leadership for our nation, not just the worst we've come to expect. We reap what we sow.
We need a new narrative that understands that capitalism always and only functions in the framework of public institutions, and we can make these institutions work for good.
We need a new narrative that places the dignity of all citizens as the foundation of the economy, ensuring they can work and provide for their families and grow their skills and knowledge.
We need a new narrative that recognizes that a nation's wealth is not financial; that money can always be created on demand to create the real prosperity we desire and need.
The most stable and prosperous economy is one where the nation's currency is anchored by maintaining full employment - not by gold or central banks - and that uses money to invest in people, infrastructure, knowledge, and the rejuvenation and cultivation of our natural resources within which we all live.
We need a new narrative that forgives, that hopes, that serves, that inspires, that believes that we can be great again.