Amid the insane threats to default on the National Debt this week, David Leonhardt, New York Times Columnist, published one of his consistently sane columns, unfortunately his last. In it he detailed 6 things that are knowable about the economy, summarized here:
1. The only kind of economy that works is a market economy with a significant government role in managing and regulating it.
2. A rising level of education is crucial to the social and economic advancement of nations.
3. The budget deficit will need cuts and tax increases to come under control.
4. The US spends 75% more on health care than other industrial nations, a terrible waste of resources, without providing better care or even basic care to many.
5. The planet is getting hotter. Climate change is real and a real economic threat of catastrophic proportions.
6. Income inequality is getting worse. The top 1% has captured the virtually the entire growth of the economic pie in the last 30 years.
To read the full article go here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/business/economy/lessons-from-the-us-economys-malaise.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=economic%20scene%20leonhardt&st=cse