A few angles to your -why do they Do that?- response.

WTO functioning to date aka NAFTA locally - has produced the Machiladores, encouraged the disregard of all environmental considerations - in the name of cheapest possible prices.
Mexico (for just one) has little idea of sane safeguards, little funds and merely token interest. (Book-length - to detail Mexico's traditional problems, of course, and the New exploitations at border)

These poorly planned WTO 'rules' have had the effect of enouraging that we do likewise; scrap most environmental concern, and join in this endless creation of consumer toys - worldwide race to the bottom.

Heh - a Billion lines of code? in those agreements - all about maximizing Corp profits / ignoring as much as possible the consequences to *all* but: the Corporate bottom line(s). Have I missed something important in that simplification?

Muricans don't save much (except the minority who can fund a retirement 'instrument') - surely not the millions at McDs, the growing army of Temps, incl IT? more&more - surely a growth- and also perk-free- 'industry'. Maxed-out CCs is now an epidemic - and many have no choice:

Remember the story/book by the NYorker (?) writer who tried to live as a waitress, maid, etc. for some weeks - motels only option, or the street. Lots of etcs. A microcosm for how many millions of Muricans merely try to get by. Think this was ref'd in a thread..

Agree about 'what we *might* do, in your list. But first we'd have to kick the maxed-CC habit, the automatic shopping for recreation (on those CCs) and lots more: we could live quite well on much less energy usage, begin rebuilding our infrastructure -- much of that neglected since WPA in the Thirties !! Pay 'em! to Fix Us.

Food, shelter, clothing, schools first? -- while less.. of $3K digital Tee Vees, $28K 'family UAVs' and 5000 sq. ft. 'starter homes' - to name just 3 specifics of 'lifestyle' we could live with quite less-of, and live well. We could learn to make things again - not just import them (!)

These trends alone (if started, despite the buy! buy! messages 24/7) would force a restructuring of {shudder} Economists'! thinking / calculating - in search of a viable means for living [again] -- and not merely living-to-buy.

Our entire economy has been based, since I could spell the word - upon not merely constant consumption for its own sake, but: ever increasing consumption. No?

Think that the two categories above - WTO and US habits - might (alone) be related to a 'fix' we made for ourselves and could.. unmake, if we had the will and the smarts?

(My simple mind can't handle a billion lines of NAFTA code, but I can count to 3) I also believe I know what an exponential is, and that More.. as a life principle: describes the exact same philosophy as a cancer cell.

So.. are we ready to look for radical change?
ie that word derived from radix = 'root', as in root causes of our discontent?


Naaah - didn't think so ;-) It ain't quite Dire enough. Yet.



Ashton

PS - then the Afgh and related problems would decrease as.. our need to support the Saudis who despise us - would also decrease >>> as we waste less and less. (Ever read The Waste Makers in your Econ 101 days?)