America and the Global Economic Outlook from the Bottom Up

Viewed from the lowest rung of the economic bell the U.S. economy seems disconnected from steady ground. It seems to be on intermediate range shaky ground. The national labor supply has shrank to the lowest number of employed since 1977 thereby shrinking the unemployment statistics in a rather illusory picture of health. The nation's public debt surpassed 18 trillion dollars. The Federal Reserve has bought up all of the bad debt from Wall Street's 2008 debacle while providing free money to the wealthiest banks with zero-interest loans that let banks lend four or five dollars more or less minted out of thin air for each dollar the Fed gives them.

That money has gone into buying up all of the homes lost by Americans in 2008-2009 so they now belong to the Corporate world. Corporations can invest the Federal cash infusion in Chinese investments, and with China devaluing its yuan, can now buy more Chinese shares. China wants to slow its own economic growth a little because of over-production capacity-especially as Americans don't have much money except for the rich and talk radio hosts generally.

The entire policy is rather shaky and definitely not ecological economics. There are no candidates running with solid understanding of what ecological economic is. Maybe Amory Lovins should be hired as a political consultant by someone-or people that have written textbooks on ecological economics.

With oil at 40 dollars a barrel the economic should be racing along creating 300,000 jobs a month. Oil might not have been priced this low since the 1960s. Probably it will be used in the third world engines to deforest and accelerate dirty SUV exhaust and make that portion of the economy grow around the world to buy cheap Chines product. That is not a good direction for human life on Earth environmental security prospects obviously-yet their is no leadership on the political scene, and the Democrats are completely fake on environmental economics doing just enough to get some environmental votes with executive policy that is reversible and is does not address the ecological economics reform required of the U.S. economy anyway.