I'm tempted to say that the United States is plainly unable to cope with the economic crisis in a serious way. The barriers are philosophical, procedural, and constitutional. So long as economic thinking is mired in a world that disappeared with the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, so long as any action requires 60 Senate votes, and so long as political capital erodes from the start of a fixed four-year presidential term, we're stuck.
It's been pretty clear for a while that the U.S. needs a major jobs program, that unemployment will linger (or worsen) for years, but 'business reporting' in this country isn't up to the standards of TMZ.com - and we seem to lack the political will. James Galbraith almost throws in the towel in this rant, and he jabs both the President and Congress for their Wall Street ways.
from Amazon.
