Roots of the Economic Collapse

Wall Street is making more money than ever. The four largest firms, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase, wracked up huge gains and paid out billions in bonuses. The CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, defended the bank’s massive profits, saying Goldman is, “doing God’s work.” And on Main Street? By almost every economic measure most Americans have been steadily losing ground since the Reagan era. It’s been bi-partisan policies for the most part that have given tax breaks and subsidies to the very wealthy while the bulk of the citizenry fends for itself. Inequality in the U.S. is the highest of any industrialized country. Poverty and hunger. Lost jobs, lost savings, lost homes. How did this all happen? It’s easy to blame the greedsters. Might there be some problems with the system itself?