The American dream is over. The information age has brought about the outsourcing of millions of American jobs that sustained the middle class. This in turn has led to a lower standard of living that has America in a deep state of consternation.
This information age is the third industrial revolution we are experiencing. In this third industrial revolution, the elites dominate the world, not just their individual countries. Their worldview is one that has no borders. The masses will have a lower standard of living because manufacturing and service jobs can always be outsourced to countries with lower wage scales. The rise of automation and robotics are other factors that have and will continue to displace millions of workers from the middle to lower classes.
In the 1950’s, America was 50% of the world’s economy. Today it is 22%. This trend will not be reversed because the manufacturing sector in America has been tremendously diminished via globalization. Four million white collar jobs will also be sent offshore by 2015. These are back office, legal, medical and management positions. This offshoring also depresses the wages in America substantially. There is no need to pay an American $50,000 to $100,000 when the same job in China, India, South America, Philippines and Africa pays $10,000 to $20,000.
American hegemony will be strongly challenged by China, India, Brazil and a combination of smaller states during this century. Americans must now do what they thought they would never have to do. Compete with the rest of the world. The United States dominated the world from the 1950’s through the the 1970’s. Europe, Japan and South Korea were still recovering from major wars. South America and India were not fully developed from an industrial standpoint that would have allowed them to compete fully. Those days are gone. Excluding defense, pharmaceutical, information technology and heavy construction machinery, the world has caught up to America. During the next 10-20 years we will also see a multi currency world. The U.S. dollar will no longer dominate. The era of inexpensive imports will come to an end and that in turn will also contribute to the higher cost of living in America.
What we are also seeing in America is a growing and permanent underclass. This poses a danger to the country. In a nation of 310 million people, you have 46 million living in poverty, 30 million who are working poor, 46 million on food stamps, great underemployment and millions more who have given up looking for a job completely. The college degree has been greatly devalued. The only thing it guarantees is that you are going to have a large student loan debt to pay off. The middle class has been brutalized and their numbers are shrinking rapidly.
The high standard of living that Americans have enjoyed for decades has been an illusion. It was underwritten by cheap credit and the taking of 2nd and 3rd mortgages on their homes. Real wages have not increased in the United States in over 30 years.
The American economy cannot and will not create the 25 to 30 million high paying jobs that are needed now. We have lost over eight million jobs in this extreme recession/depression. And most of those jobs are not comming back. Adding to that fact is that multiple studies prove the following statement, “the majority of the workforce experiences great job dissatisfaction. Everyday is another 8-9-10 hours of spiritual dry rot. Exercises in nothingness”.
This economic state is also the fault of the lower and middle classes. Their overconsumption has been massive. The upper classes spent tremendously and the lower and middle classes followed as if they had equal wealth. This caused them to go into tremendous debt. A debt they could not afford and cannot pay off.
The effects of this third industrial revolution has been energized by the subprime housing crisis. This extreme recession/depression was unnecessary. It was brought about by two forces. The misguided but well intensioned attempt by both the Clinton and Bush administrations to give a major aspect of the American Dream, home ownership, to millions of Americans who were historically left out of the process because of finances and discrimination. Both administrations put pressures on the the financial industry to lower their standards when it came to giving out mortgages to those who were not qualified via regular banking standards.
The other force was the unrelenting greed of Wall Street that exploited the housing bubble. The financial industry is comprised of very smart people. “The Best and the Brightest”. Those who possess the best credit scores. Their sole purpose is to make as much money as possible and by any means necessary. All for their own benefit. Unfortunately, the exploitation of the subprime mortgage bubble destroyed 40% of the world’s wealth and has led to hundreds of millions of people around the world who are now unemployed or underemployed. This was all done via the selling of toxic subprime mortgages around the world. A criminal act of selling worthless mortgages has ruined economies and saddled the world economy with trillions of dollars in debt, yet no one has gone to jail. For the financial industry is a culture that privatizes profit, but socializes losses. They also profit from corporate socialism. They are protected by the corrupt ideology of “Too Big To Fail”. It is not a logical concept for a capitalist society. If the failure of one of the big banks will plunge the society into a depression, then the only logical conclusion is that they should be broken up into smaller units. That is why Glass-Steagall should never have been repealed. Commercial and investment banking should be separated. Let them gamble with their own money. If they win, the gains are all theirs. So are the losses if they lose. And when it is by criminality, have them do that long perp walk and send them to jail.
When you have a society where 1% of the people controls 90% of the wealth, you have tremendous inequality. To have millions of highly educated people who cannot get good paying jobs, whether in Europe or America will lead to destabilization. Somewhere along the line those in positions of power will fall. History has shown this will always be the case. Economic and cultural polarization will continue to grow wider and society will suffer the consequences.
The exception to this situation will be the creative class and those who are highly skilled in specific industries. Some of these industries are the media, entertainment, technology, scientific research, etc. And has been shown, they will create their own businesses and rise in power because they have a unique talent that is highly desired by the marketplace. A talent that cannot be easily duplicated. They are also very mobile and will practice their professions around the world.
In this technological age, it is clear that you cannot wait for others to create a job for you. It is something you must do for yourself. The decision is yours.