Fixing the Economy: The “Company Store” Problem
problems low growth and low productivity growth, massive debt burdens, extreme inequality, financial speculation, and trade deficits. They underly our current social malaise. Even though the broad outlines of our problems are clear, economists do not understand the causes of our problems. No remedies they have proposed can be taken seriously. The new conservative Congress seems determined now to do exactly the wrong things. The level of popular confidence in our political and financial institutions is justifiably at an all-time low (see Arrogant Capital: Washington, Wall Street, and the Frustration of American Politics). What is wrong?