The U.S. is considered the richest nation on Earth. But what do these riches consist of, and who benefits from them?
The U.S. economy's magnitude far exceeds that of any other nation.
(2010 GDP from IMF data, graph by Pagecloudss)
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the most common measure of a nation’s economic health. While the above graph shows that the U.S. is far and away the most robust, it’s also common knowledge that things are not well in the country. A majority of citizens polled recently opined that the nation is on the wrong track toward future prosperity.
There is increasing interest in finding different measures that better reflect citizen well-being and satisfaction, as Meteor Blades has noted http://www.dailykos.com/....
He points us to an article in The Nation http://www.thenation.com/...
Implicit in the critique of GDP is, after all, a belief that many things the free market can’t provide, such as leisure time and quality public services, matter, and that some activities that increase output—clearcutting forests, spending exorbitant amounts on inefficient private healthcare systems—are wasteful and destructive. If social welfare and equality are no less valuable than growth and entrepreneurship, nations like France and Sweden might start looking like they’re outperforming the United States, which is surely why the effort to rethink GDP has attracted more interest in European countries than in America. |
In an earlier diary
http://www.dailykos.com/... I touched upon the Declaration of Independence’s insistence that people have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and how government failure to promote employment infringes upon these citizen rights. Employment is the primary source of income for most people and also defines one’s role as a productive citizen and a person.
Unemployment is a severe source of stress for individuals. Reuters reports that suicides rise and fall with the economy:
http://www.reuters.com/...
Suicides in the United States ebb and flow with the economy, rising in bad times and falling in good, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
Their study, published online in the American Journal of Public Health, is the first to look at suicide trends by age and business cycles, and it found that working Americans -- people aged 25 to 64 -- are significantly more prone to suicide in tough economic times. |
I would suggest that the unemployment stress factor is composed of at least three potent elements:
The first is the lack of or inadequacy of social support services for the unemployed.
The second is the internalization of the belief that a person should not accept help from others, that one must be the rugged individual and not seek social support.
The third is how the phrase “pursuit of happiness” is consciously or unconsciously interpreted in our society.
Considering the first, I would point to Money and Public Purpose colleague maddogg’s recent diary http://www.dailykos.com/...
in which he argues for a Federal Job Guarantee.
But here I want to focus upon points two and three, the more psychological factors.
Reading heart-breaking diaries on Daily Kos about individuals and families suffering all manner of problems from being out of work, one observes that one potent problem is that many people feel guilty about the need for external help. They have been persuaded to believe that their condition reflects their inadequacy. They feel embarrassed to ask others for assistance. They may feel that seeking government help is promoting “socialism” and is violating American values.
Part of this, at least in men, may be the male propensity to avoid seeking help lest one be perceived as weak. This seemingly genetic tendency is of course reinforced by society. The media depiction of the Wild West with its self-sufficient
cowboys is a salient example. Helping people get around this stumbling block can be difficult and is rendered still more difficult if the conventional wisdom tells one that accepting public assistance is hurting the nation by accepting money that you didn’t “earn”, money that rightfully belongs to those who worked for it. You might be taking money away from a more worthy cause such as building more bombers to defend the homeland.
Politicians and other low-information leaders will think of numerous reasons to minimize or eliminate social support programs, and people will absorb and internalize such ideas even to their own detriment.
Moving to the third point, the "pursuit of happiness" is not a phrase that is repeated a lot in the media, but we all know that it's an important idea and one that underlies the functioning of our nation.
It is generally understood that all Americans should try to pursue happiness, though "happiness" is never clearly defined. We are supposedly assured of life and liberty, and given these we should use them to chase after happiness.
This sounds quite nice, but we can question whether the recommendation of happiness-pursuing is a gift or a challenge. What if we don't pursue happiness? Are there then penalties? Since "happiness" is not clearly defined, do we take our cues from others? From the media? From political leaders? From religious leaders? The Founding Fathers were either wise or unwise to hold up this vague goal that people should be seeking. Surely they knew that happiness is not the same for everyone. They may have realized too that happiness cannot be sought after on its own, but is a state that happens when one finds one's real path in life.
But without referencing the Declaration of Independence, those who shape our culture are continuously pushing us toward their value systems, which usually involve the use of money. And if you have lost your job you cannot participate fully in these prescribed systems, have difficulty replacing your money needs from public programs, and feel guilty about trying. In addition, you may be losing your home and other physical things you need for support, and may be losing the company of your spouse, children and pets. You lose your sense of self-worth and may contemplate suicide.
This brings us back to different ways of assessing national prosperity. A nation's economic indicators may look okay while millions of people are suffering hardship and stress. Even those whose personal economies are adequate are overly stressed because they see bad things around them and sense that the country is not heading in the right direction. As the quote above from The Nation declared, some European countries may be outpacing the U.S. in real happiness among their citizens.
Short of prescribing solutions to these problems, I will say only that a nation's social support systems must be kept in balance with the market-capitalism side of its economy. Our capitalist system provides strong dynamism to our society, but there must be support also for those who cannot keep up or fall behind. Otherwise a nation would be like a car with an accelerator but no brake pedal. You know things won't end up well.
Please follow our group, Money and Public Purpose (here), as we continue to pursue a strong effort to bring MMT to the attention of everyone who can possibly support it. Money and Public Purpose has published a number of diaries that explain in further detail the concepts I've been promoting.
Thank you for reading and reccing.
psyched