It's not like being a Superpower has done us much good lately. [.......]
None of what you said changes my point.
You have to start thinking on your own and use some common sense. In other words, you do not need to kiss the balls of partisan hacks and one-sided ideologues like Krugman. Its not conservative to recognize that by nearly every metric, the US dramatically increased and/or passed every other country on earth in terms of political, economic, and military power from 1940-1946. Krugman can cherry pick a couple charts to supposedly prove some nonexistent point, but nothing can change the fact that post-WWII, the US became a massive superpower that enjoyed a very distinct position in the world
at the top.
That is an advantage. If you dont believe things were rigged in our favor, youre on crack. The US was a trained athlete with a 10 meter head start while the rest of the world was barely pushing their bruised bodies across the starting line.
There's still profit in hiring Americans, just not as much profit. If we want to take lessons in how to make capitalism work for more people, we have examples in Japan & Germany, particularly Germany, where corporate responsibility isn't defined as being solely to the shareholders, but to communities and the whole nation.
In those countries, "You didn't build that" is axiomatic, understood- they know they depend on each other, and act accordingly. We seem to have forgotten that over the last 30 years or so.
I happen to believe corporate responsibility does go beyond the shareholders, but that doesn't mean I believe a heavy-handed government should enforce the liberal fantasy version of corporate responsibility via government extortion and control through oppressive taxes, regs, and laws. Capitalism will best work for more people by being organized to fuel our economic and technological base through educational programs that prepare and motivate people to be productive
citizens. We need to get people to be citizens in every sense of the word: A deep conviction in community/public good.
For us to fix the government we have to fix ourselves... we are the government. For us to promote good public policy and have to promote good private lives. Citizenship means much more than simply living here.
Combining this concept of citizenship with productiveness is unstoppable. Making productive citizens goes back to everything I was saying earlier about education and training. We need much more of it because the world is changing and the economies are changing and for us to remain productive we need to chase the jobs of the future and stay on the cutting edge. We are already a nation of risk-takers, entrepreneurs, and inventors. Now we just need to up the ante in a more complex, highly skilled direction. What will power the advanced economies of the 21st century are ideas and energy. Only highly educated, creative, and motivated people can do that.
You really need to pull away from the dogma and false dichotomy of the two "sides" and think originally on your own. I know that probably won't happen because your a grown ass man who has been indoctrinated most of your life and thinking outside your box is nearly impossible. But, I'm still putting it out there...
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