We are in the midst of a global crackup, Thomas L. Friedman writes in the NY Times this weekend. And at the heart of it lay the very financial problems most of us struggle with every day -- credit card bills, foreclosures, and bubbles of all kinds.
Who's cracking up? The EU, as southern countries go belly up; the Middle East, as youth rebellions unseat dictators in countries that have only known dictators; China's economic theory of undervalued currency and low domestic consumption ...
As for America, we've thrived in recent decades with a credit-consumption-led economy, whereby we maintained a middle class by using more steroids (easy credit, subprime mortgages and construction work) and less muscle-building (education, skill-building and innovation).
Friedman calls for a 21st century hybrid politics that "mixes spending cuts, tax increases, tax reform and investments in infrastructure, education, research and production." Since that's not the agenda of either party, Friedman calls for a new party to "collaborate in the center."
So what would it look like to live in a post-debt America? Let me know your thoughts. I'll try to address that in a future post.
