> If he admires RR, he's not capitulating - he's following. emulating,
> promoting.
That he is. One of the most stunning statistics concealed in the Fed's Flow-of-funds data is this: US private investment as a share of GDP has been mostly stable since the mid-1970s, averaging 15% to 16%. So all that alleged Wall Street innovation didn't do a damn thing for the real economy. But the real shocker is the long-term decline in public investment. Total public investment as a percent of GDP, in decade averages:
1950s 5.4% 1960s 5.1% 1970s 3.6% 1980s 3.6% 1990s 3.2% 2000s 3.2%
To turn that 3.2% back into 5.4% would mean investing $330 billion per year. Assuming $45,000 per job, that would easily generate 7 million jobs (compensating for the 8 million the recent recession destroyed). But instead we're going to get more tax cuts for plutocrats and more misery for everyone else.
-- DRR