Bill Gross on the U.S. Economy

From Ritholtz:

Not exactly a blinding insight, but interesting regarding who its coming from:

“Those who advocate that job creation rests on corporate tax reform (lower taxes) or a return to deregulation of the private economy always fail to address dominant structural headwinds which cannot be dismissed: 1) Labor is much more attractively priced over there than here, and 2) U.S. employment based on asset price appreciation/financed as opposed to manufacturing can no longer be sustained. The “golden” days are over, and it’s time our school and jobs “daze” comes to an end to be replaced by programs that do more than mimic failed establishment policies favoring Wall as opposed to Main Street.” (emphasis in original)
-Bill Gross

That is significant.  The idea that Wall Street getting richer helps the rest of the country is complete bunk.  We need to continue to make things here.  Trading paper isn't productive, and yet it has grown as a percentage of GDP faster than any other activity.  The FIRE sector is robbing from the rest of the economy, and the nation is poorer.  We need an industrial policy to compete with Germany and China.  We need better pay at the low end of the scale, and less money going to the moneychangers in New York and London, who are only giant leeches sucking the lifeblood out of the body politic.  More deregulation and lower taxes are not the answer, they are part of the problem.  30 years after Reagan, it is clear that his pronouncement's time is up.  Government isn't the problem, government is the solution.  Now we need to govern competently.