I no longer have faith in our current economic system. I was educated to think that capitalism was a superior system because it preserved freedom of choice, but the version that it has morphed into over the past 45 years has removed virtually all choice. The American dream is dead, the middle class is dying, and the economy is dominated by the wealthy, corporate monopolies and vertical oligarchies.
One poor decision made over the past 45 years was to commoditize everything — housing, healthcare, food, fuel, transportation, education — so now the working class no longer can afford anything without going into debt. Prices continue to rise faster than incomes, and more of the profits go to those at the top than at any other time in recent history. Economic inequality is at its highest level since the 1920s, and vertical integration has resulted in limited choices for products and services with only a small handful of companies monopolizing all categories of consumer goods and services.
There are a lot of contributing factors to this situation — the decline of labor unions, globalization of trade, financialization, increased automation, disregard for antitrust laws — but the primary causal factor is the changes in U.S. economic policy since 1980 and the deconstruction of New Deal policies that created and solidified the middle class after the Great Depression and World War II. Policy and tax changes since then have shifted more resources to the top and have systematically disassembled our society’s safety net that ensured individual success regardless of income or social category.
Is it any wonder that younger generations keep putting off marriage and raising families with these choice-limiting policies in place?
Daniel Herbert-Voss, White City