That US capitalism is dependent upon never ending growth is problematic when the world has reached the limits to growth. There are limits to the amount of pollutants that we can spew into the air, dump in landfills, and trickle down into the oceans that feed us. There are limits to growth when the burning of fossil fuels is now proven to be slow killing the planet. There are limits to growth when habitats shrink or disappear, when productive acreage is reduced exponentially. But whatever your views on limitless growth, capitalism cannot long survive extended periods in which new jobs are not created. For some time now, the Bush economy has been a train wreck waiting to happen and it waits just 'round the bend.
Bush Sr called Reagan's policies voodoo economics. It was one of only two thing the Senior Bush was right about. Even so, the Senior Bush did not go far enough. He did not tell Americans that "wealth" does not originate with "capital"; it originates with labor. Every major economist since Aristotle, from Adam Smith to Karl Marx, have known this. Nevertheless, there is a caste of people in the US --GOP Brahmans --who leach off the labors of others and dare to call it "free enterprise". The real GOP platform shifts the tax burden to the middle and lower classes. It's a payoff to the filthy rich for their support. The truth of that statement is found in Bush's own words. When he addressed a meeting consisting of some of the "upper one percent" of the population, he smirkingly called them his "base".
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